At least 854 people have either been killed or wounded in militant attacks and counterterrorism operations in Pakistan in the first three month of this year, a study has shown.
According to a report released by the Centre for Research and Security Studies, Pakistan registered 358 deaths and 496 injuries as a result of 219 terrorist attacks and counterterrorism operations between January and March 2023.
However, the number of fatalities and injuries in the first three months has been half of what Islamabad witnessed in the entire of 2022.
The highest deaths were reported from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, followed by Balochistan (64), and then in Sindh, Punjab and Islamabad, Dawn reported.
The first quarter of 2023 records 854 casualties which account for almost half of the casualties witnessed during the entire preceding year, @CRSSpak's Q1 2023 Security Report.Our Annual Security Report 2022 had predicted Pakistan's likeliness to endure more violence this year. pic.twitter.com/EUQS174DOj— The Center for Research and Security Studies (@CRSSpak) April 10, 2023
The report also said that the deaths among security forces in January this year was the highest in a decade. The outlawed TTP carried out at least 22 attacks causing 107 fatalities.
But the hike was not new as a similar trend was seen in the previous year, which ended with the decade’s deadliest December in the country.
The toll in January accounted for 111 was the second-highest number of fatalities of security personnel in a single month, second only to July 2014 which witnessed 118 fatalities.
On January 30, a bomb blast at a police mosque in the northwestern city of Peshawar killed 84 officers inside a fortified police headquarters, an attack claimed by a group sometimes affiliated with the TTP.
The violence-related deaths among civilians dropped in the 3-month period by more than half to 63, compared to 136 a year ago.
“Most concerningly, the fatalities of security and government officials almost doubled, from 88 in the first quarter of last year to 167 in the first quarter this year,” the report said.
Attacks by the Pakistani Taliban — known as Tehreek–e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) — are on the rise, with a recent change in strategy to target security officials and avoid civilians.
The Pakistani Taliban share common lineage and ideals with the Afghan Taliban, led by Hibatullah Akhundzada who issues edicts from his hideaway in the southern city of Kandahar.
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