Pakistan saw most militant attacks in a decade in March, says conflict monitoring group
KARACHI: Militant attacks in Pakistan surpassed 100 in March for the first time in over nine years, marking it to be the deadliest month since 2015, a leading security think tank said on Tuesday, as violence spiked across the country's two western provinces.
The Pakistan Institute for Conflict and Security Studies (PICSS) said Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan were the hardest hit, though Punjab and Sindh provinces also experienced an uptick in militant activity.
Islamabad has repeatedly blamed Afghanistan for providing shelter to militant groups targeting civilians and security forces in cross-border attacks, an allegation denied by the authorities in Kabul.
'The number of militant attacks surpassed 100 for the first time since November 2014,' PICSS said in a statement.
The think tank reported 105 militant attacks during the month, resulting in 228 fatalities — 73 security personnel, 67 civilians and 88 militants — and 258 injuries, equally split between civilians and security forces.
Security operations conducted during the same period resulted in an additional 107 deaths and 31 injuries, bringing the overall death toll for the month to 335.
'According to the PICSS Militancy Database (PMD), March 2025 recorded the highest overall fatalities since August 2015,' the statement added.
Balochistan witnessed at least 122 fatalities, including 40 civilians and 37 security personnel, as well as three suicide bombings, two of which were carried out by factions of the separatist Baloch Liberation Army. The province also saw the March 11 hijacking of the Jaffar Express, which left 26 hostages and 33 militants dead.
PICSS said Khyber Pakhtunkhwa reported the highest number of total deaths — 206 — comprising 49 security personnel, 34 civilians and 123 militants. Of these, 82 fatalities occurred in the tribal districts, formerly part of the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA), where security operations also intensified.
The think tank informed that Punjab also witnessed an increase in militant activity, with seven attacks recorded — mostly in Dera Ghazi Khan — marking the highest number of incidents in the province in a single month in a decade.
Six people were killed and 22 suspected militants arrested in Lahore, it added.
The southeastern Sindh province also reported three low-intensity attacks, including one claimed by Daesh.
PICSS also recorded six suicide attacks in March — three in Balochistan, two in mainland KP and one in the tribal districts — making it the deadliest month for such incidents in recent years.
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