Deadly December, 15 suicide bombings, highest militant attacks: 2022 was a violent year for Pakistan

The number of militant attacks in Pakistan throughout the past five years has been highest in 2022, when there were 28% more terror occurrences than in 2021. In addition, there have been four times as many suicide attacks in 2022 as there were in 2021. Pakistan experienced at least 15 suicide bombings in 2022, compared to just four in 2021. According to data issued by Pakistan Institute for Conflict and Security Studies (PICSS), a security think tank with offices in Islamabad, this year saw the most suicide attacks since 2018.

The data shows that 37 percent and 35 percent increase in deaths and number of injured respectively was also recorded in 2022. The country faced at least 376 terror attacks in the last year (2022), in which 533 people were killed and 832 were injured. This is for the first time since 2017 that the country faced more than 300 militant attacks.

 In 2017, Pakistan witnessed 420 militant attacks in which 912 people were killed and 1877 injured. The human losses in terror attacks in 2022 were also the highest since 2018, as for the first time in the last four years; the deaths were more than 500. A provincial breakdown of terror incidents suggests that the major surge in anti-state violence was reported from mainland Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (excluding tribal districts) where the militant attacks increased by 119 percent, resultant deaths by 229 percent, and injured by 433 percent. 

The worsening security situation in KP can be comprehended from the fact that 34 percent of the total terror incidents in 2022 were reported from the province while 30 percent of the total terror attacks were reported from its tribal districts (former FATA). Thus 64 percent of the total terror incidents were reported from the province. Balochistan followed KP, where 27 percent of the total attacks were reported while Sindh had a seven percent share in it. In KP, 127 militant attacks were reported in which 204 people were killed and 309 injured during 2022.

 In erstwhile Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA), the institute recorded 113 militant attacks in which 173 people were killed and 138 injured. Balochistan witnessed 103 attacks in which 123 people were killed and 303 injured. Sindh witnessed 25 terror incidents, resulting in 22 deaths and 40 injured. In Punjab, at least three militant attacks resulted in five deaths and 33 injured. Three low-profile attacks were also reported from Gilgit-Baltistan, in which no casualty was reported. 

The rise in terrorist attacks began in 2020, the same year when the disbanded Tehreek-e-Taliban (TTPmany )’s factions came together. But beginning in May 2021, when the Afghan Taliban launched an onslaught against the security forces of the former government in the country’s war-torn capital, there was an unparalleled escalation. After the Taliban seized control of Afghanistan in August 2021, the bloodshed in Pakistan grew even worse.  Terrorist assaults in Pakistan increased by 56 percent in 2021, and by another 28 percent in 2022. In 2020, there were 16 terror acts on average each month. This number jumped to 25 in 2021, and to 31 in 2022. A four-month-long ceasefire by TTP also could not stop the upward trend in anti-state violence in Pakistan