Pakistan Mourns 389 Lives Lost To Terror And Suicide Attacks

In the first half of this year, 389 people were killed in terror and suicide attacks in cash-strapped Pakistan, according to a study from the Pakistan Institute for Conflict and Security Studies (PICSS), which was reported by Dawn.

In the study, the data showed that there had been a total of 271 attacks in Pakistan during the time period being looked at. These attacks killed 389 people and hurt 656 others.

In the same time period last year, Pakistan was hit by 151 bombings that killed 293 people and hurt 487 others. The numbers show that there will be a shocking 79% more killings in the first half of 2023 than in the same time last year.

In the second half of 2022, there were 228 attacks that killed 246 people and hurt 349 others. So, compared to the second half of 2022, the first six months of 2023 saw an 18% increase in attacks, a 58% increase in deaths, and an 88% increase in injuries.

At the same time, the figures showed that Pakistan’s security forces had killed at least 236 people, who the official called “militants.”

Dawn said that there were 174 recorded militant attacks in Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province in the first half of this year. These attacks killed 266 people and hurt 463 others.

The PICSS data shows that there were 51% more terror acts in the tribal districts of KP in the first half of 2023 than in the same time period in 2022. However, there were 10% fewer deaths in the first half and 15% fewer deaths in the second half of 2022.

In the first half of 2023, there were 75 terror attacks in Balochistan. These attacks killed 100 people and hurt 163. The numbers show that the number of terror acts has gone up by 103% since the same time last year and by 14% since the last six months of 2022.

In the first half of this year, there were 61% more deaths in Balochistan than in the first half and 64% more than in the second half of 2022.

The study also said that the number of terror attacks in Sindh went down slightly in the first half of 2023. There were 13 reported attacks in the first six months of 2023, which led to 19 deaths and the same number of injuries, according to Dawn.

When compared to the first half of the previous year, the number of deaths in Sindh went up by 27%. When compared to the last six months of 2022, the number of deaths went up by 171%.

Whereas, there have been a lot more terror-related attacks in Punjab province in the first half of 2023. Eight attacks were recorded, resulting in six deaths and ten injuries.