A total of 34 lives were claimed in 17 terrorist attacks in September, while 35 incidents of violence of different types were noted which claimed the lives of 67 people and injured 32 others, reports in the local media have informed.
The statistics were revealed in a monthly terror report compiled by the Pakistan Institute of Peace Studies (PIPS), an independent, non-profit, non-governmental research and advocacy think-tank.
The report stated that of the 17 reported terror attacks, 10 took place in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (KP) and seven in Balochistan while no terror attack was reported in any other region of the country.
Of the 34 people killed in these attacks, 18 were security and law enforcement personnel —nine army soldiers and nine levies officials, accounting for the main targets in 59 percent of all attacks across the country. At least seven civilians were also killed along with nine militants in the retaliatory fire following some of the attacks.
The Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), Jamaatul Ahrar and local Taliban groups were reportedly involved in the 10 reported incidents of terror in KP which claimed 22 lives and injured nine others.
In Balochistan, Baloch nationalist insurgents stepped up attacks in September after a month of relative calm.
As many as 12 people lost their lives while as many were injured in the seven attacks reported from Balochistan. The attacks were allegedly perpetrated by different Baloch insurgent groups, including the Baloch Liberation Army (BLA) and the Baloch Republican Army (BRA).
A total of 11 cross-border attacks were noted in September 2018, including nine from across the Indian and two from the Afghan border. These attacked killed six people and injured one.
The security agencies also conducted three anti-militant operations during the month resulting in a number of armed clashes or encounters with militants. 19 militants were killed in these operations and clashes while four army men and two Frontier Constabulary men lost their lives.
