During the previous week, the violence further escalated as compared to the past three weeks. But, the salient feature of the week was a sudden upsurge in violence in the largest metropolis of Pakistan, Karachi during the last two days of the week: where the killing of a member of an ethnic political party (Muthida Qaumi Movement, MQM) unleashed an appalling cycle of violence in the city. The data collected through different sources suggests that 135 people lost their lives in 45 incidents of violence across the country, and once again it was the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) and tribal regions, which witnessed majority of violence during the course of the week (for details see data sheet). The violent clashes also left 58 people injured across the country.

Moreover, it were the militants who bore the major burnt, as 62 militants were killed in different incidents, whereas the military-militants– clashes left 43 militants and seven security personnel dead. The second highest number of casualties was of civilians, where 50 civilians were killed and 37 were left injured. The major loss of civilian lives was recorded because of the ferocious wave of target killings throughout the country. Furthermore, the current week, like the previous one, marked no CIA operated drone strikes in any part of North or South Waziristan Agency, FATA (Federally Administered Tribal Areas). Meanwhile, militants continued their sabotage campaign, blowing up gas supply lines, telephone exchange, community health centre, mobile phone towers and a government boys– primary school in different areas of KP and tribal regions. Ten different sabotage attacks were reported during the course of the week and most these occurred in KP.

Raging militancy in KP and FATA again resulted in a major chunk of loss of lives and 37 percent of the total causalities of the current week were the result of recurrent clashes between militants and security forces, especially in the aforementioned areas.

A concise look into the pie chart shows that target killing was the major weapon of violent actors to inflict maximum casualties. During 18 incidents of the target killings, 36 civilians and seven security personnel perished, mostly in Karachi. Bomb blasts remained the second major tactic, as eight different bomb blasts were reported during the week, killing 13 people, mostly in militancy infested KP and FATA regions. Sixteen dead bodies, including 11 civilians and five security personnel were also recovered in different areas of KP and FATA.

Though, the number of violent episodes reduced – 45 against last week 60 during the current week- the death toll however increased considerably from last week figure of 107 to 135 this week. Meanwhile, accumulative data of past four weeks suggest that 639 people fell prey to the raging violence in Pakistan. Most of the dead were militants and civilians, and the ongoing military operations in KP and FATA were the major cause of these deaths.

Sources

1. The News
2. Dawn
3. The Express Tribune
4. Pakistan Today
5. Daily Times
6. Dateline Islamabad
7. The Frontier Post
8. Jang (Urdu)
9. Daily Mashriq (Urdu)
10. Aaj (Urdu)