An Overview
The overall reported incidents of violence in country increased by 20 percent in the month of October as compared to previous month. The number of fatalities in these incidents also increased by 13 percent however the number of people injured decreased by about 7 percent. Among 203 overall incidents of violence 145 were terrorist attacks reported from across Pakistan during the month that left 170 people dead and 243 others injured. (See Chart 1) Out of total 145 terrorist attacks, 32 were carried out by nationalist insurgents, 95 by the Taliban and other banned militant groups whereas 18 attacks were sectarian in nature. (See Table 1)

Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa were the worst militancy-hit areas among all the regions in terms of number of casualties and number of terrorist attacks, respectively; 38 terrorist attacks killed 60 people and injured 80 others in Balochistan whereas 44 reported attacks  in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa took 45 lives and inflicted injuries to another 101 people. In FATA, 32 terrorist attacks were carried out mainly by the Taliban that left 23 people dead and 57 others injured. As many as 29 terrorist attacks were reported from Sindh, mainly Karachi, which resulted in killing of 41 people and injuries to 5 others. Punjab and Islamabad faced one terrorist attack each while Gilgit Baltistan remained peaceful during the reporting month.

Chart 1: Terrorist Attacks in Pakistan in October 2012

The number of terrorist attacks increased from 126 in previous month to 145 in October but the number of people killed fell from 172 to 170 and injured from 308 to 243. The decrease in number of casualties was more significant in incidents of sectarian violence and attacks by the Taliban and other militant groups, whereas the number of attacks by nationalist insurgents and consequent casualties witnessed an increase, which reflects heightened violence in Balochistan during the reporting month.  

The overall incidents of violence (203)–as cited earlier and that included above mentioned terrorist attacks, operational attacks by the security forces and their clashes with the militants, incidents of ethno-political violence, inter-militant clashes, and cross border attacks as well as drone strikes–left 393 people dead and 418 others injured. (See Table 2) In 15 incidents of political and ethnic violence, most of them reported from Karachi, 32 people lost their lives and 20 others sustained injuries. In 9 reported clashes between security forces and militants, 42 people were killed and 44 others injured. Meanwhile in 11 operational attacks by the Pakistani forces and 4 US drone strikes in FATA, 84 suspected militants were killed and 50 others injured. Moreover 7 cross-border attacks and clashes including 6 on Pak-Afghan border and one on Pak-India border were reported that killed 32 people and injured 36 others. Meanwhile 8 incidents of inter-militant/tribal clashes were also recorded in October that killed 27 persons and injured 22 others.

A comparison of this month’s security situation–using the variables of the number of overall attacks/clashes given in Table 2 and the resulting killings and injuries–with the last month’s security landscape reveal an upward trend. The overall number of attacks/clashes and fatalities which had went down considerably in previous month rose again this month.  (See Chart 2)  

Chart 2: Comparison with Last Three Months’ Figure

This month the highest number of casualties was among the civilians with 194 deaths and 275 people injured mainly in terrorist attacks. As many as 151 militants were killed and 77 injured largely in operational attacks by security forces and their clashes with militants and drone attacks. (See Chart 3 and Table 3)

Chart 3: Detail of Casualties

Table 3: Distribution of Security Forces’ Casualties Type Killed Injured Frontier Corp 15 28 Police 23 18 Army 9 15 Levies 1 5 Total 48 66

Militants used different tactics in carrying out these attacks and ambushes. Direct firing or shootout was the most commonly used tactic with 72 reported attacks while Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) were used in 36 reported incidents. 11 remote controlled bomb blasts, 10 bomb blasts, 5 landmines blasts and two suicide attack were among the other foremost tactics used by the militants in this month. (See Table 4)