An Overview
The security situation of the country remained precarious during the reporting month. The major counter-terrorism operation Rah-e-Nijat in South Waziristan Agency has entered in its 5th week and so far more than 90% of the area (according to official claims) has been cleared of the militants. Increasing number of suicide attacks in NWFP and Punjab and countrywide arrests of suspected militants were witnessed throughout the month.  Balochistan, NWFP and FATA were the most affected areas by the militancy while Punjab, Sindh, Gilgit-Baltistan and Kashmir remained relatively calm and peaceful. A total of 165 terrorist attacks including 11 suicide attacks claimed 241 lives and injured 704 others. Balochistan was the most affected areas with 60 reported terrorist/nationalist insurgent attacks that killed 17 people and injured 61 others; while FATA was the second most affected area this reporting month that faced 55 terrorist attacks claimed 40 lives and caused 46 injuries. NWFP was the third worst-hit area with 42 reported terrorist attacks that killed 136 people and injured 513 others; while in Punjab 2 attacks killed 39 people and injured 80 others.  In Karachi 3 reported attacks were recorded that claimed three lives. (See Chart 1)

Chart 1: Terrorist Attacks in Pakistan (November 2009)

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 throughout the country are counted collectively, the overall number of casualties reaches 1099 killed and 1118 injured. In 22 clashes between the security forces and the militants, 139 people were killed and 93 were injured, 70 operational attacks, almost all of which occurred in the tribal areas, 623 militants were killed and 240 were injured; while 11 incidents of ethno-political violence claimed 11 lives and caused 46 injuries. In 18 reported incidents of inter-tribal clashes 57 people were killed and 25 were injured; while in 3 border attacks (US drone attacks) 30 people were killed and 10 were injured. (See Table 2)

If a comparison of last three months data is carried out with the entries obtained this month a clear downward trend is visible. This downward trend is due to the ongoing military operation Rah-e-Nijat that has loosened the grip of the militants in their strong hold in South Waziristan Agency and they have not been able to conduct their activities with as much accuracy and coordination as they use to earlier. The dip in number of terrorist attacks this reporting month is because the terrorists’ success in carrying activities in areas other than the NWFP and Tribal areas was very limited as compared to last month when they easily succeeded in carrying out attacks in almost all parts of the country. (See Chart 3)

Chart 3: Comparison with Last Six Months’ Figures

The militants continue to suffer the maximum number of casualties for the sixth consecutive month. This month the militants suffered 767 death casualties and 217 injuries followed by the civilians who suffered 231 life losses and 731 injuries during the reporting month. In the terrorist attacks and their clashes with the militants the security forces lost 101 personnel among them 66 army, 11 FC, 22 police, 1 paramilitary and 1 levy personnel while 170 others including 27 FC, 108 army and 34 police personnel were injured.  (See Table 4, 4a)

This reporting month a variety of tactics were used by the militants, the most commonly used tactic was direct shootout with 39 reported incidents; while the second most widely used tactic was rocket attacks with 34 reported incidents. The third most common modus operandi was of improvised explosive devices (IEDs) with 25 reported incidents; while 16 incidents of hand grenade attacks, 12 remote controlled bomb attacks, 11 suicide attacks, 5 land mine attacks and 4 incidents of beheadings were also reported. (See Table 5)