An Overview
As the year drew to a close the security situation of the country plummet to volatility. The major military offensive Rah-e-Nijat in South Waziristan Agency entered its second phase and the militants continued wrecking havoc with the law and order situation in the major urban city centers of the country including the federal capital. The country-wide arrests of the terrorist and suicide attacks continued this month. The US drone attacks into restive tribal region remained a permanent feature of this month’s security landscape as 7 attacks were reported during the month. Except for interior Sindh and Gilgit-Baltistan the terrorists attacked in almost all areas of the country. A total of 161 terrorist attacks, including 15 suicide attacks, were reported that killed 318 people and injured 762 others. The militancy hit Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) was the most affected area with 61 reported terrorist attacks that killed 38 people and injured 70 others; while the insurgency hit province of Balochistan was the second most affected area with 47 recorded terrorist/nationalist insurgent attacks that killed 14 people and injured 52 others. Third area vulnerable to terrorist attacks was North West Frontier Province (NWFP) where 46 people were killed and 161 were injured in 39 attacks. In Punjab 6 terrorist attacks killed 157 people and injured 351 others while 5 reported attacks in Karachi killed 49 and injured 33 others. (See Chart 1)

Chart 1: Terrorist Attacks in Pakistan in December ‘09

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 1039 killed and 1194 injured. In 30 clashes between the security forces and the militants, 153 people including 142 militants, 7 civilians and 7 FC personnel were killed and 83, among them 65 militants, 3civilians and 1 FC personnel were injured. Similarly in 22 incidents of inter-tribal clashes 73 people were killed and 36 others were injured; while 12 incidents of ethno-political violence claimed 17 lives and injured 9 others. This month 8 border attacks, including drone attacks, claimed lives of 56 people and injured 39 others. (See Table 2) 

If a comparison of last three months data is carried out with the entries obtained this month a somewhat mixed trend is observable. The number of attacks has gone up from 239 to 299 this month which could be due to the retaliation of military offensive in South Waziristan Agency. The casualty figures have slightly gone down but remain more or less the same. Almost all areas of the country were in easy access of the militants. (See Chart 3) 

Chart 3: Comparison with Last Six Months’ Figures

 This month the most number of casualties were of the militants who continue to suffer the maximum number of casualties for the seventh consecutive month due to ongoing military operations in Khyber and South Waziristan Agencies. This month the militants suffered 667 death casualties and 359 injuries followed by the civilians who suffered 316 life losses and 689 injuries during the reporting month. In the terrorist attacks and their clashes with the militants the security forces lost 56 personnel among them 26 army, 1 FC, 22 police, 5 levy and 2 personnel the rangers while 146 others including 8 FC, 97 army and 41 police personnel were injured.  (See Table 4, 4a)

Among a variety of tactics used by the militants this month the most commonly used tactic was of firing or direct shootout with 39 reported incidents; while the second most preferred method was of Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) with 25 reported incidents. Third most often used tactic was of hand grenades with 21 reported incidents while 17 incidents of rocket attacks, 15 suicide attacks, 13 remote controlled bomb blasts and 12 bomb blasts were also reported. (See Table 5)