Terrorism claims 311 lives in province

601 injured in 277 incidents; FC personnel faced 80 attacks

QUETTA: At least 311 people were martyred and 601 injured in 277 incidents of sectarian and extremist violence, suicide attacks and target killings in Balochistan during 2018. The deceased included personnel of the levies, police and Frontier Corps (FC) as well as civilians.

The toll has increased from the last year when 263 people were martyred and 577 injured in 305 terror attacks across the province.

According to the home department data for January to December 16, 2018 available with The Express Tribune, most of the attacks — 80 — were carried out against the FC, leaving 62 personnel martyred and 146 injured.



In 30 other attacks, at least 39 police personnel were martyred and 64 others injured. Levies personnel were attacked eight times, leaving four personnel martyred and seven injured.

Moreover, in nine sectarian incidents, 15 people were martyred and seven others wounded, in addition to two settlers injured an attack.

The month of July was the worst in terms of law and order as 39 terrorist incidents occurred in the province, followed by January (35), April (30), February (25) and October (24).

Acting on tip offs the law enforcement agencies launched 1,796 intelligence based operations, mostly in restive parts of the province where 91 terrorists were killed and as many as 1,317 sophisticated weapons were confiscated from their possession.



Bombings, rocket attacks

At least 84 bombings and seven suicide attacks were reported across the province. On July 13th, a suicide bomber targeted a political rally of the Balochistan Awami Party (BAP) in Dringarh, Mastung. More than 128 people were martyred, including BAP leader Siraj Raisani, and over 200 got injured.

In another suicide blast on July 25th near Quetta’s Eastern Bypass, at least 31 people were martyred and more than 30 injured. Moreover, one person died and a number were injured in around 25 rocket attacks.

There were 11 landmine explosions, which claimed two lives and injured 14 people. As many as 25 hand grenade attacks were also reported, leaving one person dead and seven wounded.

According to the data, gas pipelines were attacked twice, while railway tracks were also blown up two times. During the year, three electricity pylons were damaged or destroyed in subversive attacks. 

Police area

There were 2,366 incidents of crime reported in police-controlled areas, an increase from the previous year when 2,295 such incidents were reported.

At least 428 people were murdered and 228 were killed in accidents, the data showed, while 194 people were kidnapped for ransom and 42 rape cases were reported.

No case of kidnapping of children was reported. Moreover, 995 offences of armed dacoities, robberies, burglaries and thefts were reported.

Levies area

The crime incidence in the levies area declined as 565 incidents were reported, as compare to 775 in 2017.

During the period, 285 people were murdered and 118 died in accidents. Three rape cases were reported. The statistics disclosed that 51 offences of armed dacoities, robberies, burglaries and thefts were reported.