An Overview
The major military offensive in South Waziristan is nearing the completion of its phase while this week the security forces have also entered in Bara sub-district the stronghold of Lashkar-e-Islam (LI). The overall security situation of NWFP and FATA remained volatile. This week a total of 17 attacks were reported that killed 27 people and injured 112 others. In NWFP 6 attacks including two suicide attacks were reported that killed 26 people among them 19 civilians and 7 police personnel while injured 103 others including 100 civilians and 3 police personnel. Most of these attacks were reported in Peshawar and D.I. Khan where the militants targeted police stations, a judicial complex and a ladies public park. (See Table 1)

In FATA 11 attacks were recorded killing 1 army personnel and injuring 9 others among them 6 army and 3 Frontier Constabulary (FC) personnel. The heart of these attacks were South Waziristan, Khyber and Mohmand Agencies where militants targeted girls’ schools and security forces check posts this reporting week.

Table 1: Terrorist Attacks in FATA and NWFP

If the casualties in terrorist attacks, operational attacks by the security forces and their clashes with the militants, inter-tribal clashes and cross border attacks in NWFP and FATA are counted collectively, the overall number of casualties reaches 240 killed and 208 injured. (See Table 2)  In 3 incidents of inter-tribal clashes 13 people lost their lives including 11 militants and 2 civilian while 3 militants were also injured. These clashes occurred in Swat and Lower Dir districts in NWFP. In 6 incidents of clashes between the security forces and the militants reported this week 35 people including 26 militants, 2 civilians, 2 police and 6 army personnel were killed while 22 were injured among them 2 civilians, 5 militants, 3 police and 12 army personnel. There were two US drone attacks this week that killed 24 militants and injured 2 others. Both attacks were reported in North Waziristan Agency. (See Table 2) 

If a comparison of last three weeks data is carried out with the data obtained this week a downward trend is observable.  All three entries i.e. the number of attacks, death casualties and injuries have gone down. The decrease in the number of terrorist attacks is not very sharp and the slight decline is due to slowing militant activities that have been on the back foot due to military offensive in South Waziristan Agency. (See Chart 3) The sharp decrease in number of deaths and injuries is due to less number of suicide and terrorist attacks in Peshawar which were 6 (most in a week this year in any city).   

Chart 3: Comparison with Last Three Weeks Data

The maximum number of casualties was reported of the militants who were killed in security forces operational attacks and their clashes with the security forces. The second highest number of casualties is of civilians who were killed mainly in terrorist attacks. (See Chart 4) The security forces personnel also lost their lives mainly due to terrorist attacks and their clashes with the militants. Among the 17 security personnel killed this reporting week 8 were from army and 9 police personnel; while among the 32 injured security personnel 23 were army and 3 FC and 6 police personnel

Chart 4: Details of Casualties

This week the most widely employed tactic by the militants was rocket attacks with 4 reported incidents while the second most commonly used methods were of remote controlled bomb attacks, direct shoot out, and improvised explosive devices (IEDs) with 3 reported incidents each. 2 incidents of suicide attacks and1 incident each of kidnapping and hand grenade attack were also reported. (See Table 5)