Pakistan has witnessed as many as 134 terrorist attacks, including militant attacks, nationalist insurgents' attacks and sectarian-related violence, in which 207 persons were killed and another 369 injured across Pakistan during first month of 2012, says a report issued by Pakistan Institute For Peace Studies (PIFPS) on the security situation in Pakistan here on Tuesday.
Compared to the previous month, the report states, the number of terrorist attacks in January increased slightly, however, the numbers of people killed and injured in these attacks increased considerably from 99 to 207 and 239 to 369, respectively. The report claims that FATA was the most volatile area of the country, where in 45 recorded terrorist attacks 95 persons were killed and another 177 sustained injuries. Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa was the second most hit-region that witnessed 42 such attacks, which claimed 27 lives, besides injuring 87 others.
There was no let up in violence in Balochistan either, where 51 people were killed and 42 were wounded in 32 attacks of Baloch separatists against law enforcement agencies, political leaders and civilians. Eight incidents of sectarian violence and militants attacks occurred in Karachi that claimed lives of 11 people and injured 9 others, while 4 sectarian related target killings incidents in Gilgit-Baltistan increased the sectarian tension in the area.
With the exception of one sectarian attack on Chehlum procession in Punjab, in which 21 persons were killed and 50 others sustained injuries, while the overall security situation in Punjab remained peaceful. Peace and clam also prevailed in Islamabad and Azad Kashmir.
The overall number of casualties in Pakistan in January-including those resulting from terrorist or insurgent attacks, operational attacks by the security forces and their clashes with the militants, ethno-political violence, inter-tribal clashes and cross border attacks as well as drone strikes-reached 546 and injured 543 others in a total of 191 incidents of aforesaid violence. The maximum number of casualties was recorded in security forces' 10 operational attacks and 22 clashes with militants in different FATA agencies and parts of KP.
As many as 11 incidents of political and ethnic violence were reported from Karachi that caused in killing of 13 and injuring of 4 people. Meanwhile, three incidents of border clashes at Pak-Iran border left nine civilians dead and 3 others injured. In 7 reported incidents of inter-tribal and sectarian clashes, 21 people were killed and 18 others were injured, whereas four drone strikes killed 15 people and injured two others.
The overall number of attacks and clashes in January decreased by about 8 percent compared to the previous month, whereas the number of people killed and injured in these attacks/clashes increased by 9 percent and 23 percent, respectively. Moreover, four US drone attacks killed 15 people and injured 2 others in this month.
Like in the previous month, the militants suffered maximum number of casualties; 312 militants were killed and 153 others injured in on-going military operations and their clashes with security forces as well as US-led predator drone strikes. The second highest number of casualties was of the civilians with 133 life losses and 269 injuries. Meanwhile, 101 personnel of the security forces also lost their lives and 121 others sustained injuries, mainly in terrorist attacks and clashes with the militants.
Militants employed diversity of tactics in their attacks, among them the most commonly used tactic was of firing or shooting with 33 reported incidents. While, improvised explosive device (IEDs) were the second most commonly used method with 28 reported incidents. Rocket attacks with 16 incidents, landmine with 15 attacks and target killing with 14 incidents were among the other foremost tactics used by the militants in this month.