Pakistan: 854 people killed in three months in terrorist attacks, counterterrorism operations

Islamabad [Pakistan], April 16 (ANI): Casualties from violence have soared in Pakistan, at least 854 people were killed or wounded in terrorist attacks and counterterrorism operations in the first quarter of this year, reported Dawn.
According to the report, prepared by the Centre for Research and Security Studies, the number of deaths was 358 and that of injuries was 496, which resulted from as many as 219 terrorist attacks and counterterrorism operations during the January-March period.
Notably, this number was half of what was witnessed during the entire of 2022. Most deaths -- 245 (or 68 per cent) -- were reported from KP, followed by Balochistan's 64 (18 pc), and then in Sindh, Punjab and Islamabad, reported Dawn.
As per the report, the month of January 2023 was the most fatal for security forces in a decade, following a similar trend from the previous year, which ended with the decade's deadliest Dec for them.
With a death toll of 111, January recorded the second-highest number of fatalities of security personnel in a single month, second only to July 2014 with 118 fatalities, reported Dawn.
"Most concerningly, the fatalities of security and government officials almost doubled, from 88 in the first quarter of last year to 167 in the first quarter this year," the report said.
The terrorist attacks against security personnel, government officials, and civilians accounted for most incidents of violence and counter-violence that took place in the first quarter. The outlawed TTP carried out at least 22 attacks causing 107 fatalities, reported Dawn.
Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), a proscribed militant organisation, has escalated its attacks since negotiations with them ended in November of last year, focusing primarily on the KP police and regions bordering Afghanistan.
Since the Afghan Taliban took power across the border, there have been countless reports of terrorist outfits, principally the TTP, organizing and launching attacks.
The law and order situation in the nation has gotten worse over the past few months as terrorist organisations carry out assaults virtually unchecked across the nation.
Underfunded, ill-equipped, and barely trained police in Pakistan are quite vulnerable to terrorist attacks, reported The News International.
There are, arguably, few institutions in Pakistan where the ratio of respect to importance is more distorted than when it comes to the police.
The KP police have lost around 125 officers less than five months into the year and over 200 have been injured, mostly in terrorist attacks. This means that the total number of deaths among KP police this year has already surpassed last year's total.
The deadliest attack in 2023 was the Peshawar police lines blast in January, in which a suicide bomber killed over 80 personnel and injured over a hundred. The attack took place inside a mosque located in an, apparently, high-security zone of Peshawar that is home to the police headquarters. (ANI)