PESHAWAR: Incidents of terrorism across Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan have dropped by 64 per cent during the first quarter of ongoing year compared to the corresponding period of last year, reveals KP Militancy Report 2015, compiled by the Strategy and Analysis Wing of provincial home department.
The report for the first quarter of 2015 January to March said that targeted killings have dropped by 47 percent, robberies by 3 percent, kidnapping by 41 percent and car snatching by 12 percent. It claimed that extortion cases had come down by a whopping 77 percent.
The Peshawar district, however, remains on top for terrorism, murder and kidnapping incidents and targeted killings, the document noted.
Mapping the real situation, it notes that 293 terrorism incidents took place during the first quarter of 2014, while the number dropped to 107 during the current year.
Similarly, targeted killings dropped to 24 from 45, robberies to 32 from 33, kidnapping cases from 54 to 32, car snatching to 14 from 16, extortion to 13 from 81, the report says.
The number of suicide attacks has come down by 83 percent, roadside bombings dropped by 79 percent, mortar attacks by 80 percent, firing by 25 percent and hand grenade attacks by 66 percent.
Significant improvement was noted in case of civilian and law enforcement agencies’ casualties that have dropped by 81 and 77 percent, respectively.
The LEAs casualties dropped to 46 from 197 a year ago, while civilian casualties dropped from 544 to 103 during the period under review.
The report, however, said that the number of light arms’ attacks and targeted killings is on the rise, while IEDs, suicide attacks and hand grenade incidents have shown downward trend.
Crime data at divisional level across the province shows that the number of terrorism incidents dropped to 44 from 136 a year ago in Peshawar, nine from 20 in Mardan, nine from 36 in Kohat, seven from eight in Hazara, 21 from 46 in Dera Ismail Khan and eight from 38 in Bannu.
The analysis shows that Peshawar, Bannu and Kohat divisions have shown improved outlook, while the situation in Dera Ismail Khan seems to be deteriorating.
Peshawar was the hotspot district and witnessed 34 terrorism incidents during first quarter of 2015, followed by Dera and Bannu with 16 and eight incidents, respectively.
Peshawar district is also on top with seven incidents of targeted killing, 43 murders and six kidnappings. Nowshera topped robbery hotspot districts with 10 robbery cases, while Mardan followed with six and Peshawar with four.
Comparison of LEAs’ achievements shows that 209 militants were arrested during first quarter of 2015 compared to 60 a year ago, 58 IED attacks foiled against 79 last year, 57 arms recovered against 45 last year, 16 criminals killed against 15, 27 drug recoveries against 16 last year and 10 abduction recoveries compared to 12 a year ago. Internews
