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Pakistan sees surge in deadly attacks in 2024

December 31, 2024

Security forces in Pakistan in 2024 suffered their deadliest year in almost a decade, a report shows. The data was released as militants mounted a series of attacks in the troubled northwest.

https://p.dw.com/p/4oiJ5
Pakistan Army troops patrol along the fence on the Pakistan-Afghanistan border at Big Ben hilltop post in Khyber district, Pakistan
Many of the attacks have been attributed to militants operating from across the Afghan border (FILE PHOTO: August 3, 2021)Image: Anjum Naveed/AP/picture alliance

Pakistan suffered an alarming surge in militant attacks in 2024, an annual report showed on Tuesday, as militants launched fresh deadly attacks in the northwest. 

The figures make 2024 the deadliest for the Pakistani security services in nine years,  an Islamabad-based research group said.

How the figures look

"Pakistan experienced a 40% surge in militant attacks in 2024 compared to the previous year, recording 905 incidents that resulted in 1,177 deaths and 1,292 injuries," the Center for Research and Security Studies said.

These included 444 Islamist terrorist attacks ithat killed 685 soldiers and police officers and 927 civilians.

"On average, nearly seven lives were lost daily," the report said, also taking into account the number of dead insurgents.

"Equally alarming were the cumulative losses of civilians and security personnel, i.e. 1612 fatalities, accounting for over 63% of the total recorded this year and marking 73% more losses compared to 934 outlaws eliminated," the report added.

The surge in violence was attributed to Islamist militants allegedly operating from across the border with Afghanistan.

Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan, a group that is seeking to implement Islamic Sharia law in the country, claimed the highest number of attacks. 

It had been pushed back by the military in a series of offensives that started in 2014. However, the group — which has killed around 80,000 Pakistanis in over two decades of violence — hit back with a vengeance after the fall of Kabul to the Afghan Taliban in 2021.

Pakistan strikes at Pakistani Taliban in Afghanistan

The Baloch Liberation Army (BLA) insurgent group, which is seeking independence from the federal government, was said to be responsible for the second-highest number.

A report published earlier this month showed that the surge in frequency and intensity of BLA attacks reflected a "significant evolution" in the group's operational strategy and capabilities.

Attacks in border region

The data was released as militants mounted assaults against a security post, a government office, and a police van in the country's restive northwest on Tuesday, killing a policeman and two others, including a child.

While no group claimed responsibility for the attacks, suspicion was most likely to fall on the Pakistani Taliban which often targets former tribal regions along the Afghan border.

rc/wd (AP, AFP, dpa, Reuters)