Pakistan saw a sharp 34 percent surge in terrorist attacks and a 21 percent rise in related fatalities in 2025, according to a new report.
The findings were published in “Pakistan Security Report 2025,” released on Thursday by the Islamabad-based research organisation Pak Institute for Peace Studies (PIPS). The report documents 699 terrorist attacks nationwide over the year.
This wave of violence resulted in at least 1,034 deaths and 1,366 injuries, highlighting a persistent upward trend in militancy that has continued since the Taliban’s return to power in Afghanistan in 2021.
The report underscores that the security challenge is broadening, driven not only by rising border violence and militant resurgence but also by evolving insurgent tactics from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa to Balochistan.
Data reveals that the state’s security apparatus bore the brunt of the casualties, with security and law-enforcement personnel accounting for over 42 percent of all terrorism-related fatalities – a loss of 437 lives.
This stark figure emphasises the frontline nature of the conflict and the persistent targeting of army, police, and paramilitary forces, the report notes. The civilian toll was also severe, with 354 non-combatants killed.
Meanwhile, 243 militants were killed, either in suicide attacks they perpetrated or during retaliatory operations by security forces. The PIPS analysis indicates the conflict remains highly regionalised, with over 95 percent of attacks concentrated in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) and Balochistan provinces.
In KP, a 40 percent rise in incidents underscored the entrenched presence of groups like the banned Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and its affiliates. The province recorded the country’s highest number of terrorist incidents in 2025, with 413 attacks claiming 581 lives and injuring 698 others.
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 fatalities and 607 injuries. A 26 percent increase in attacks was accompanied by a strategic shift towards high-impact, coordinated operations.
Proscribed groups like the 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 the previous year. These attacks killed five people, including four militants and one policeman, and injured two policemen.
A major 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 responsibility for 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.
