Zubair Qureshi
A significant decline was observed in terrorist attacks in Pakistan during the outgoing month of March 2023 and according to the figures released by the Islamabad-based think tank ‘Pakistan Institute for Conflict and Security Studies’ (PICSS), March witnessed 36 per cent decline in militant attacks as compared with February 2023. In its monthly report, the PICCS highlights the fact that though the trend is on the decline however, the number of casualties due to such attacks remained almost the same as in February 2023.
The security forces foiled many attacks during the outgoing month by eliminating at least 38 militants and arresting 35 others. The think tank also reported 37 militant attacks during March in which 57 people were killed and 72 injured. February had witnessed 58 attacks, in which 59 people were killed and 134 wounded. PICSS also recorded a decline in suicide attacks in March, as only one such attack was reported, while February witnessed three suicide bombings.
There was a fifty percent decline in the number of militant attacks in Balochistan, but resultant deaths slightly increased. The militants carried out 11 militant attacks in March, in which 28 people were killed and 35 injured. The lone suicide attack in March was reported from the Bolan area of the province, where 10 people were killed. The attack was claimed by Daesh and a new group Tehreek-e-Jihad Pakistan separately, the report says.
The most significant improvement in the security situation was observed in the tribal districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP), says the report adding, six militant attacks were recorded in March against 16 in February, while the deaths declined from 16 to five. “However, the most high-profile attack also occurred in the former Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) region, where ISI sector commander a serving Brigadier was killed in South Waziristan,” the report says.
In the mainland KP during March 2023, the militants carried out 16 attacks in which 21 people died while 30 were injured. In February, the province had witnessed 13 attacks in which six people were killed and eight were wounded. No militant attack was reported from Punjab, while four attacks were reported from Sindh, where three people were killed. In February, ten people were killed and 18 injured in three reported militant attacks in Sindh. During March, no violent militant activity was reported from Punjab, Islamabad, Azad Jammu & Kashmir, and Gilgit-Baltistan. According to the PICCS report, Pakistani security forces foiled many attacks during the month and the most significant action was taken in the border town of Chaman, whereas on March 6, Pakistani security forces conducted an intelligence-based operation in Chaman and recovered arms and ammunition dumped in a compound.
The recovered ammunition consists of 10 suicide vests, 15 anti-tank mines, readymade IEDs, 10 detonators, 64 circuits, 140 anti-personnel landmines, seven mortar shells, 105 fuses, 230 electric detonators, and 18 remotes. In another IBO, the security forces gunned down a facilitator of the February 11 suicide bombing against Mari Petroleum in North Waziristan.
