Casualties from Terror Attacks and Counter-Terror Operations

Terrorist violence touched a new height in 2022. From 850 fatalities in 2021, the figure jumped to 980 in 2022 – indicating an over 15 percent rise in violence from as many as 512 terrorist incidents and counter-terror operations. The highest rise in violence was recorded in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP), where fatalities went up from 399 in 2021 to 633 this year – a nearly 59% rise. Balochistan recorded a marginal increase of 1% in violence but it could not bring any relief to the region as it had the second-highest number of fatalities in the country. All other regions witnessed a drop in violence with Punjab, the largest province of the country, recorded a 61% drop in violence, followed by Sindh 50% down, and Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT) registered an 11% decline, while Gilgit Baltistan (GB) had no incident of violence this year (Table 01-A and Table 01-B).

Both KP and Balochistan together suffered nearly 90 percent of all fatalities across the country, with the last month of the year i.e., December emerging as the deadliest for the security forces that lost at least 42 personnel in over two dozen attacks.

Officials attributed the concentration of violence in KP and Balochistan to the return of the Taliban to power in Afghanistan, where thousands of Pakistani militants and wanted terrorists – mostly linked to the banned Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) – reportedly enjoy safe havens and the necessary support for planning acts of terror in Pakistan.