595 KILLED IN 262 TERROR ATTACKS LAST YEAR IN PAK

ISLAMABAD : A total of 595 people, including security officials, were killed and 1,030 others injured in 262 terrorist attacks across Pakistan in 2018, according to an Islamabad-based think tank.

“These attacks posted a 29% decrease from the previous year," the Pakistan Institute for Peace Studies (PIPS) said in its Pakistan Security Report 2018. Of these attacks, 171 were carried out by the Tehreek-e-taliban Pakistan (TTP) and its splinter groups Jamaatul Ahrar, Hizbul Ahrar and others, killing 449 people, the report said. It added that nationalist insurgent groups, mostly in Balochistan and a few in Sindh, carried out 80 attacks, killing 96 people. As many as 11 terrorist attacks were sectarian-related, killing 50 people.

Balochistan remained the centre of attention, with 354 people killed in attacks while 59% of the total toll in Pakistan took place in the province.

The report warned that violence from Islamist groups like TTP and IS should not be conflated with that of Baloch secessionists. While religiously inspired groups carried out less attacks in Balochistan, the death toll was far greater.

Significantly, more than half of the overall attacks, around 136, hit security and law enforcement agencies, the PIPS report said.

But the most ominous attacks were on political leaders and workers.

In 24 attacks on them, 218 people were killed and 394 injured. The deadliest ones took place in the run-up to the July 25 general elections.