An Overview
The overall security landscape of the country showed a mixed trend during the month of August, as there was neither peace nor unrest as such. This month 206 people were killed and 437 were injured countrywide in 227 reported terrorist/insurgent attacks. Balochistan was the worst affected area of the country as most of the terrorist/insurgent attacks took place here. Out of 227 reported terrorist/insurgent attacks 101 occurred in Balochistan that killed 41 people and injured 160 others. The North West Frontier Province (NWFP) and the tribal areas of Pakistan (FATA) remained in the grip of terrorist violence as 79 terrorist attacks were recorded in NWFP killing 76 people and injuring 138; while in 41 terrorist attacks in FATA 74 people were killed and 109 others were injured. In Punjab 11 people were killed and 29 were injured in 3 terrorist attacks and communal riots. Sindh faced 3 terrorist incidents including a sectarian attack claiming 4 lives and injuring 1 other. The other areas of the country stayed calm and peaceful. (See Chart 1)
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Chart 1: Terrorist Attacks in Pakistan in August 2009
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The over all number of casualties reaches 1024 killed and 876 injured in 227 terrorist attacks, 23 incidents of clashes between the security forces and militants, 55 operational attacks by the security forces, 36 inter-tribal and militant clashes, 6 cross border attacks and 10 incidents of political and ethnic violence reported this month. (See Table 2)
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Table 2: Nature of Attacks
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Type of attack/clash
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Number of attacks/clashes
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Killed
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Injured
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Terrorist/insurgent attacks
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227
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206
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437
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Clashes b/w security forces and militants
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23
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73
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47
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Operational attacks by security forces
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55
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307
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205
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Border attacks
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6
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43
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35
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Political and ethnic violence
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10
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11
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25
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Inter-tribal clashes
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36
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384
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127
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Total
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357
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1024
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876
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If the data of last two months is compared with the figures collected in August 2009, a slight decrease in death casualties (See Chart 3). The regular reduction in number of casualties is due to decrease in military operations
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Chart 3: Comparison with Last Seven Months’ Figures
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The militant continued to suffer maximum number of death casualties for fourth consecutive month due to the military operations in FATA and few parts of NWFP. The Taliban militants suffered 707 life losses and 190 injuries followed by the civilian casualties that included 204 killed and 482 injured. During this month security forces lost 113 personnel suffered 204 injuries. (See Table 4 and Table 4a)
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Table 4: Detail of Casualties (August ‘09)
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Type
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Killed
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Injured
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Civilian
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204
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482
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Militants
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707
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190
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FC
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11
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58
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Army
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25
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73
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Police
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48
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36
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Paramilitary
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27
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36
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Lvs
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2
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1
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Rng
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-
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-
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Total
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1024
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876
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Table 4a: Distribution of Casualties (August ‘09)
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The militants employed a variety of tactics during the month. The most widely used tactic was the shootout with 47 incidents of firing. There were 39 reported rocket attacks, 36 bomb blasts, 28 IEDs, 20-hand grenade attacks and 17 remote controlled bombs (RCB). During the reporting month 11 incidents of sabotage, 8 incidents of target killings and 2 incidents of beheading also took place. (See Table 5)
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Table 5: Attack Tactics Used by Terrorists
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Tactic
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Number of incidents
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Suicide attacks
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6
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Rocket attacks
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39
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Beheadings
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2
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Remote-controlled bombs
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17
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Kidnapping
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4
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Landmines
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9
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Firing
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47
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Sabotage, burn, fire
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11
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Target killings
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8
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Bomb blasts
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36
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Hand grenades
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20
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Improvised explosive devices (IEDs)
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28
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Total
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227
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