Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) have become the deadliest weapon used by the militants against civilians and security forces alike in Pakistan.
As much as 2,073 security forces personnel and civilians have been killed in 2,053 IED attacks in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) and Balochistan. The available data reflects that casualties caused by the IEDs are on the rise. The data collected from official and other sources shows that the IEDs explosions caused 67 percent of casualties from the year 2002 to 2011. As many as 1,011 security forces personnel have died while 1,627 were injured in 574 IED blasts in KP province only. In Balochistan during the last four years 1,479 IED blasts were reported which resulted in the killing of 991 civilians and 71 security forces personnel, while 513 civilians and 121 security forces personnel were injured due to these IEDs. A total of 399 incidents have been reported in Balochistan where militants targeted gas pipelines, electricity pylons and railway tracks during last three years.
Intelligence sources said that some foreign countries were sending explosives and weapons to militants who were active in Pakistan. “We have foiled several bids to smuggle explosives to Pakistan through the Pakistan-Afghanistan border and seized several tonnes of high explosives in different parts of Balochistan,” a senior police official said on condition of anonymity.
Smuggled materials help militants “prepare suicide jackets, explosive-laden vehicles and other sorts of bomb,” he disclosed. The same “anti-state elements are also training insurgents,” he added, not just supplying hardware.
Security forces have also been able to foil several terrorist bids by diffusing almost 1,638 IEDs but yet there is an immense need for Pakistan, Afghanistan, NATO and other countries to scrutinise and regulate the production, sale, transport and use of ammonium nitrate fertiliser as well since most militants use it to build IEDs and other bombs, he said.
