PESHAWAR, Pakistan — In a troubling report released in 2024, a research organization based in Islamabad revealed that Pakistani security forces have faced unprecedented casualties while combatting insurgent activities, marking the most lethal year in nearly a decade.
According to the findings from the Center for Research and Security Studies, security personnel suffered an average of nearly seven deaths per day, with a total of “at least 685 fatalities and 444 terror attacks” documented throughout the year. The report coincided with a series of militant assaults on Tuesday, which targeted various sites in the volatile northwest region of the country that borders Afghanistan. These attacks resulted in the deaths of one police officer and two civilians, including a child.
Local police official Abdullah Khan reported that an officer sustained injuries during an attack on the Draban Post in Dera Ismail Khan, located in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. The attack also claimed the life of a Customs department employee.
In a separate explosion, a child was killed when a roadside bomb detonated outside a government facility in South Waziristan. Additionally, a bomb attack on a police vehicle in Bannu district led to the injuries of seven individuals, according to local law enforcement reports.
While no group immediately took responsibility for these attacks, the Pakistani Taliban, locally known as Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan, is widely suspected as they frequently target security personnel, particularly in the unstable former tribal areas adjacent to Afghanistan.
The Center for Research and Security Studies indicated that its report was compiled from publicly available sources, primarily media reports, as Pakistan’s military generally does not disclose the extent of troop casualties. The report also highlighted the significant overall toll, noting that the combined deaths of civilians and security forces reached 1,612, with civilian casualties exceeding security personnel deaths.
In a separate analysis, Abdullah Khan, managing director of the Pakistan Institute for Conflict and Security Studies, reported a 40% increase in militant attacks in 2024 compared to the previous year. His findings indicated that while security forces managed to kill 950 militants, they also recorded 527 military personnel and 489 civilians killed in subsequent militant offensives.
The military has yet to comment directly on the findings of either report. However, last week, military spokesperson Lt. Gen. Ahmad Sharif stated during a news briefing that the year saw a record number of 925 insurgents eliminated, along with 383 soldiers lost in operations against these groups. He also noted that Pakistani forces conducted an impressive 59,775 operations targeting insurgents throughout the year.
In recent months, Pakistan has intensified its intelligence-based operations against the Pakistani Taliban, a group that has gained new strength following the Taliban’s takeover of Afghanistan in 2021. Although distinct from the Afghan Taliban, the TTP maintains close ties with them, further complicating the security landscape in the region.
