The raging wave of violence remained steady across Pakistan during the current week. Meanwhile, the spate of ethno-political violence in the largest metropolis, Karachi, surged significantly during the week, wherein 58 persons (28 were in the last week) perished. Also, the wave of bomb blasts across the country, spree of target killings and the recovery of mutilated dead bodies-continued to mount death toll during the week. The data collected through10 newspapers that CRSS uses as the source, indicates that as many as 182 persons lost their lives as a result of 83 violent incidents across the country during the reported week (for detailssee data sheet).The violent clashes also left 110 people injured.

Like in case of preceding weeks, civilians bore the major brunt of the ongoing spate of violence across Pakistan during the current week, as civilians accounted foralmost 62 percent of the total death toll across Pakistan. Numerically, 113 civilians lost their lives and 58 others were wounded in violent clashes of various kinds across the country. The second highest number of fatalities was ofmilitants, wherein 51 militants got killed under different circumstances. Furthermore, one CIA operated drone strike was also reported during the week, killing eight suspected militants in North Waziristan Agency (FATA). Meanwhile thesabotage campaign by the militants continued to demolish state infrastructure and undermine stability as militants blew up three public schools and a cellular tower in KP.

Meanwhile, 12 sectarian attacksleft 11 dead in Karachi and one in KP, this week. Moreover, the loss of lives due to target killings increased by 17 percent, (33 percent of the total dead against last week 16 percent) during the current week. Overall, 64 percent of the total violent attacks wereoftarget killingin nature(seethe pie chart below).

Furthermore, data underlines that of the total 53 incidents of target killings; 79 percent took place in Karachi alone, decimating 43 persons (68 percent of the total dead in target killings). Meanwhile 61 militants were killed in different incidents across the country. On the whole, militant casualties were 33 percent of the total death toll. Also, eight security personnel were killed and 15 other injured during the week.

Moreover, 21 bullet-riddled dead bodies were recovered of which 2 from FATA, 3 from Balochistan, 5 from KP and 11 from Karachi. In sum, the number of violent incidents increased from last week 68 to 83 during this week, the resultant death toll, also decreased from 183 to 182 during the current week, while the number of wounded decreased from 111 to 110. A precise look into the trends and territory of violence suggests that the deadly spate of ethno-political violence in the port city, Karachi continues to pile up death toll.

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