Pakistan’s military says security forces have killed 74 militants in intelligence-based operations in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) and Balochistan. The figure comes from a statement by the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) released on Friday. The statement also announced that the operations in KP had been widened to two more areas, Mir Ali and Orakzai.
The number needs a closer look, because it is made of pieces that cover different stretches of time.
What the 74 is made of
| Area | Killed | Period covered |
|---|---|---|
| Mir Ali, North Waziristan | 35 | Past 48 hours |
| Orakzai | 8 | Past 48 hours |
| Quetta district, Balochistan | 31 | Since November 3 |
| Total | 74 | Mixed periods |
The 35 and 8 are KP figures from the last two days, so 43 in total. The 31 is a ten-day count from an operation in the Kurram area of Quetta district, as ISPR described it. The total of 74 appears only when all three are added. This is our own arithmetic from the figures in the statement, and ISPR did not itself publish a table.
What ISPR said
The statement said security forces were running a string of operations in KP, based on intelligence, to break up what it calls khwarij networks. Heavy exchanges of fire, it said, had dealt them a “significant blow”. Fitna al-Khawarij is the term the state uses for the banned Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP).
Troops recovered caches of weapons and ammunition, along with explosives that included homemade bombs and improvised explosive devices (IEDs), ISPR said. Clearance work would go on, it added, to find any militants still in hiding.
For Balochistan, ISPR described the 31 dead as “Indian sponsored” and said they were part of what the state calls Fitna al-Hindustan, its label for Balochistan-based groups. It said the campaign under “Azm-i-Istehkam”, the government’s declared counter-terrorism strategy, would continue “at full pace”. These descriptions are the military’s own. The report of the statement did not include a figure for security force casualties in these operations, and no independent account was available.
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif praised the troops for destroying hideouts and recovering arms, saying the fight against foreign-sponsored terrorism would go on under the National Action Plan. President Asif Ali Zardari also paid tribute to the security forces, the Presidency said.
Attacks in the past two days
Police and security posts were also hit in other places, according to Dawn’s reports of police statements:
- Swabi: District Police Officer Waqas Rafiq said an assistant sub-inspector and a constable were killed on Wednesday night when three armed suspects fired on a police patrol, and a head constable was critically wounded. Their funeral prayers were held on Thursday.
- Dera Ismail Khan: Attackers rammed an explosives-laden pickup into the gate of Bandkorai police station. Police fire stopped them entering, and no police casualties were reported, but the blast destroyed the gate, part of the boundary wall and a nearby mosque, and damaged houses around it.
- Mastung, Balochistan: Police said they repelled an attack on Kandawa Post on the N-25 highway, attributed to Fitna al-Hindustan, using an explosives-laden vehicle. Two civilians died, at least 13 people were injured and three attackers were killed, according to the police statement carried by Radio Pakistan.
Our earlier report on the Kohat attack that killed ten policemen described another case where police themselves were the target.
Background: a month of mixed numbers
The Pakistan Institute for Conflict and Security Studies (PICSS) counted 143 attacks in October, 37 per cent fewer than in September. Its weekly review for October 30 to November 5 then recorded 49 attacks nationwide, up from 31 the week before, with 25 deaths and 21 injuries. PICSS called the security situation volatile. Our report on the Mir Ali operation earlier this week covers the first clearance work in the same tehsil.
Why it matters
Two things stand out. First, the statement says the KP operations have been expanded to Mir Ali and Orakzai, which suggests they are not winding down. Second, October’s fall in attacks was not followed by calm: Swabi, Dera Ismail Khan and Mastung were all hit within two days. Both patterns point to a fight that will take longer than one month’s statistics can show.
Some questions remain open. The report of the statement gives no figure for troops hurt in the Mir Ali and Orakzai fighting, and ISPR has not named any of the dead.
The next PICSS weekly review will show whether the early-November rise in attacks continued or eased while these operations were under way.
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