Militant attacks in Pakistan witnessed a 56% jump
Militant attacks in Pakistan witnessed a 56% jump (Photo/IANS)
New Delhi: After a consistent decline in militant attacks for the past six years, Pakistan witnessed a 56 per cent increase in the number of terror attacks in 2021, despite a one-month ceasefire with TTP, Friday Times reported.
In 2021, militants carried out 294 attacks, killing 388 people and wounding another 606, according to a report compiled by Islamabad-based think tank Pakistan Institute for Conflict and Security Studies (PICSS), the report said.
The report details the rising frequency, lethality and geographic scope of terror attacks across Pakistan this year. The lethality of terror attacks rose by 46 per cent in 2021 with 388 total deaths of which 184 were civilians. The remaining 192 of those killed were security forces personnel, a 66 per cent increase in the casualties of Pakistani security forces from the year before. Over 600 people were injured in the terror attacks of 2021, including 389 civilians and 217 security forces personnel, the report said.
The rise in militant attacks in Pakistan coincided with the Afghan Taliban's military offensive, which started in May 2021 and reached its zenith when the Taliban took over Kabul in August 2021. That same month, 45 militant attacks were reported, the most attacks of any single month in 2021, according to PICSS. Despite a one-month ceasefire with TTP from November 10 to December 10, the overall number of militant attacks did not drop in either month.
The report shows that the average number of militant attacks per month in Pakistan increased from 16 attacks per month in 2020 to 25 monthly attacks in 2021, the highest on record since 2017. Militant attacks have not been as deadly since 2018. In 2020, there were 188 militant attacks in which 266 people were killed and 595 injured, Friday Times reported.
Balochistan was the most turbulent province this year where the highest number of deaths (170) were recorded in 103 militant attacks. The highest number of injured were also reported in Balochistan, where over 50 per cent of all injuries from militant attacks in the country occurred (331), the PICSS Militancy Database shows.