The wave of violence further escalated across Pakistan during the current week. Meanwhile, the spate of ethno-political violence in the largest metropolis, Karachi, also continued unabated during the week, wherein 32 persons perished. Also, the wave of bomb blasts across the country, spree of target killings and the recovery of mutilated dead bodies continued to pile up death toll during the week. The data collected through10 newspapers that CRSS uses as the source, indicates that as many as 92 persons lost their lives as a result of 41 violent incidents across the country during the reported week (for detailssee data sheet).The violent incidents also left 27 people injured.

Civilians bore the major brunt of the ongoing spate of violence across Pakistan during the current week, as civilians accounted for50 percent of the total death toll across Pakistan. Numerically, 46 civilians lost their lives and 10 others were wounded in violent clashes of various kinds across the country. The second highest number of fatalities was ofmilitants, wherein 32 militants got killed under different circumstances. Furthermore, one CIA operated drone strike was also reported during the week, killing four suspected militants in Hasukhel village of North Waziristan Agency (FATA). Meanwhile thesabotage campaign by the militants continued to demolish state infrastructure and undermine stability as militants blew up a portion of railway trackand four government schools in Balochistan and KP provinces respectively.

Meanwhile, five sectarian attacksleft 15 people, including seven Shia and eight Sunni, dead in Karachi city (Sindh) this week. Moreover, the loss of lives due to target killings surged by nine percent, (48 percent of the total dead against last week 39 percent) during the current week. Overall, 63 percent of the total violent attacks wereoftarget killingin nature(seethe pie chart below).

Furthermore, data underlines that of the total 26 incidents of target killings; a staggering 69 percent took place in Karachi alone, decimating 31 persons (70 percent of the total dead in target killings). Meanwhile, 21 militants were killed in three military operations in different areas of the country. On the whole, militant casualties were 35 percent of the total death toll. Also, 14 security personnel were killed and another nine injured during the week.

Meanwhile, six bullet-riddled dead bodies were recovered from Karachi (Sindh), Bolan and Quetta districts (Balochistan). In sum, the number of violent incidents dropped from last week 44 to 41 during this week, the resultant death toll, however surged from 84 to 92 during the current week, while the number of wounded decreased from 159 to just 27.

A concise look into the trends and territory of violence suggests that the deadly spate of ethno-political violence continues to grip the economic hub of Pakistan, Karachi. The city has emerged as the epicenter of persistent violence involving multiple actors and overlapping factors.

Sources

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