• Pak Institute for Peace Studies report counts 699 terrorist attacks in outgoing year
• Burden of violence fell on security personnel, constituting over 42pc of fatalities

ISLAMABAD: Despite record militant deaths, Pakistan saw a sharp escalation in militant violence in 2025, with terrorist attacks rising by 34 per cent and terrorism-related fatalities increasing by 21 per cent year on year. As many as 699 terrorist attacks were recorded countrywide during the year.

This violence claimed at least 1,034 lives and left 1,366 injured, underscoring a rising trajectory of militancy that has persisted since the Taliban’s takeover of Afghanistan in 2021.

These are the findings of the “Pakistan Security Report 2025,” released by the Islamabad-based Pak Institute for Peace Studies (PIPS) on Thursday.

Besides rising border violence and militant resurgence, evolving militant tactics from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa to Balochistan fuel a widening security challenge, the report says. The burden of this violence fell disproportionately on the state’s defenders as security and law-enforcement personnel suffered over 42pc of all terrorism-related fatalities, with 437 lives lost, the data shows.

The report notes that this stark figure highlights the frontline nature of the conflict and the relentless targeting of army, police and paramilitary forces. Civilians were also heavily affected, with 354 non-combatants losing their lives.

Meanwhile, 243 militants were killed, either in suicide attacks they carried out or during retaliatory fire by security forces following some of the terrorist attacks. The PIPS report says that the conflict remained intensely regionalised, with over 95pc of attacks concentrated in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) and Balochistan.

In KP, a 40pc rise in incidents illustrated the entrenched presence of groups like the banned Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and its affiliates. The province experienced the highest number of terrorist incidents in the country in 2025, with 413 attacks. These violent incidents claimed a total of 581 lives and left 698 others injured.

The province faced not just more frequent attacks, but more complex ones, including a coordinated wave of assaults across 11 districts on Independence Day — a symbolic challenge to state authority, the report says. In Balochistan, the insurgency evolved qualitatively. The province experienced 254 militant attacks in 2025, resulting in 419 deaths and injuries to 607 others. A 26pc increase in attacks was accompanied by a shift towards high-impact, coordinated operations.

Militant groups like the proscribed Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA) and Balochistan Liberation Front (BLF) moved beyond hit-and-run tactics to execute highway blockades, sieges, and hijackings, directly targeting economic infrastructure and state symbols to amplify their political message and disrupt governance.

Sindh province recorded 21 terrorist attacks, including 16 in Karachi, two in Shikarpur, and one each in Hyderabad, Jacobabad, and Jamshoro. These incidents resulted in 14 fatalities and left 17 others injured. Punjab witnessed seven terrorist attacks in 2025, a decline from 11 incidents in the previous year.

These attacks killed five people including four militants and one policeman, and injured two policemen. A suicide blast outside the judicial complex housing the Islamabad district and sessions courts killed 12 people. Jamaatul Ahrar, a faction of the banned TTP, claimed the attack.

In Gilgit-Baltistan, three attacks were reported, including two in Diamir district and one in Gilgit. These incidents claimed the lives of three security personnel, including two Scouts and one Frontier Corps official, and injured six others.

Published in Dawn, January 2nd, 2026