KP most affected by terror in 2022: NACTA

As a suspected suicide blast ripped through Peshawar on Monday killing 44 and injuring 157 others, the focus again turned to the steady rise of terrorism in the country. Data has shown that Khyber Pakhtunkhwa was the most affected province, suffering from 624 incidents, including 14 suicide bombings.

Since the interim Taliban government took over in Afghanistan in August 2021, there has been a steady up tick in violence in Pakistan.

Data gathered by the National Counter Terrorism Authority (NACTA) of Pakistan showed that in 2022, some 1,025 incidents of terrorism took place across the country in which some 587 people were killed and 1,110 were injured.

The spread of terrorism showed that 61% of incidents took place in KP, 36% in Balochistan, two percent in Sindh, and 0.5 percent in Punjab and a similar in Islamabad.

The main terrorist threat came from the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), an umbrella organization of groups primarily based in the border regions between Pakistan and Afghanistan.

The data show that 70% of terror attacks in Pakistan were either claimed by or were attributed to the TTP.

Thereafter, a significant 25% were conducted by Baloch militant organizations (BMOs).

The remaining 5% were carried out by the terror group Da’esh (Islamic State in Iraq and Levant).

Most targeted

With KP sharing the longest border with Afghanistan, it is no surprise that it bore the brunt of terror attacks from the likes of TTP.

In 2022 alone, 624 incidents of terrorism were reported in KP which left 404 people martyred and 856 people injured.

On average, this meant that some 14 police officers, nine military personnel, and 12 civilians were martyred per month. Another 71 people were injured every month due to the terrorism activity.

The data further showed that of the 624 terror incidents, 14 were suicide attacks.

It is pertinent to mention here that terrorists targeted ‘soft targets’ such as dense population centers and unsecured areas, such as markets, shopping malls, hotels, restaurants, hiking trails, airports, public transport, infrastructure projects, schools and educational institutions. Places of worship, including mosque, churches, religious sites, minority religious sects and shrines were also often targeted.