ISLAMABAD: Pakistan experienced a rise in terror attacks across the country in the year 2022 by 28 percent, as compared with the year 2021, said a report by the Pakistan Institute for Conflict and Security Studies (PICSS) published on Monday.
The report states that militants carried out 376 terror attacks last year, in which 533 people were killed and 832 others were injured.
The attacks during the year 2022 are also the highest number of militant attacks in Pakistan during the last five years, said the report, adding that it is for the first time since 2017 that the country faced over 300 militant attacks in a year and endured over 500 deaths for the first time after 2018.
The last month of 2022 witnessed 44 percent of the overall attacks that the country faced last year. The terror attacks increased by 88 percent in the southwest Balochistan province and 54 percent in the northwest Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province in December 2022.
In December, the terrorists conducted 49 attacks and killed 56 people, including 32 personnel from security forces.
In response to the attacks, Pakistani security forces conducted 16 operations in December and killed 39 militants, and arrested 47 others, added the report.
The Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan and the banned Balochistan Liberation Army claimed most of the attacks, which had placed serious challenges before the Pakistani government as well as the security forces.
The PICSS report states that December 2022 also witnessed four suicide attacks; three of them were carried out in tribal districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa while one was reported from federal capital Islamabad. Pakistan also faced 15 suicide attacks in 2022 compared with just four in 2021, it added.
In Balochistan, an 88 percent increase in militant attacks was reported as compared to November 2022. In December, 17 militant attacks were reported in which 14 people were killed including 11 security forces personnel and three civilians while 48 others were injured including six security forces personnel and 42 civilians in the province.
In Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, the report recorded a 54 percent rise in militant attacks in December as compared to November 2022. In December, 17 militant attacks were reported in which 17 people were killed including 15 security forces personnel and two civilians, while eight security forces personnel sustained injuries. In the security forces’ operations, reported from KPK, 32 alleged militants were killed and 10 others were apprehended.
In erstwhile FATA, the data shows that a total of 11 militant attacks were held in a single month of December 2022 in which 21 people were killed including four security forces personnel and 11 civilians, while 19 other people sustained injuries including 13 security forces personnel and six civilians. Six suspected militants were also killed in security forces’ operations in December 2022, the report added.
