PESHAWAR - Showing no mercy, the unabated wave of terrorism in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Fata claimed lives of 12,456 people besides injuring 14,775 others during the five-year-term of the Awami National Party-led coalition government.
Soon after the Lal Masjid operation in 2007, the situation abruptly changed and terrorists started targeting government installations and security forces. After the February 2008 elections, terrorist activities gained momentum both in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Fata. In 2007, 912 civilian and 108 police persons fell prey to terrorism in Fata and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
The year of 2008 was more violent as 377 people were killed and 670 others injured in 32 suicide attacks. In addition, 1,778 were killed and 2,201 injured in remote-controlled blasts and other incidents of terrorism in KPK and Fata. Those killed included militants, 868 civilians and 221 personnel of security forces.
In the same year a suicide bomber blew himself up on September 10 while trying to enter a house owned by Awami National Party (ANP) Chief Asfandyar Wali Khan. The incident took place in the town of Charsadda outside a hujra (guesthouse) of Asfandyar. The bomb exploded as Asfandyar was meeting a guest in a room attached to the house. Four people were killed in the incident.
In another incident, 25 worshippers were killed and 50 others injured in a grenade-and-gun attack inside a mosque of Lower Dir. Another major incident of 2008 occurred on August 19 when 32 persons, including seven policemen, were killed and 55 injured as a suicide bomber blew himself up near the emergency ward of District Headquarters Hospital Dera Ismail Khan. The attack occurred when a large number of people had gathered there to protest the murder of Shia leader Basit Ali.
In the fourth major attack of 2008, 42 people were killed and 58 injured in a suicide bombing on a tribal peace jirga near Zarghunkhel check-post in Darra Adam Khel. The jirga of Zarghunkhel, Akhurwal, Sheraki, Bostikhel and Toor Chapper tribes had been convened to discuss the formation of a lashkar (army) to drive militants out of the area.
The year 2009 was much horrific with respect to suicide blasts and other terrorist activities and a total of 46 suicide attacks were reported. This was the era when Taliban had gained strength in Swat and the military operation in the country was also in progress. The unabated terrorist activities in the country in that year took the lives of 1,700 people and injured 2,629 in 2009. In the same year, 503 people, including 201 policemen, were killed and 1,221 others, including 452 policemen, were injured in 38 suicide bombings.
Soon after the launch of the military operation in Swat, 32 persons, including three soldiers, were killed and 22 others sustained injures in the first month of 2009. This year witnessed several incidents like displacement of three million people of Malakand division, mostly from Swat, Buner and Shangla districts.
After completion of the military operation, the displaced families repatriated to their respective areas while the hideouts of Taliban were successfully dismantled. In the same year Alamzeb Khan, an ANP MPA, was killed in a remote-controlled bomb blast in Momin Town, Peshawar. The blast also injured seven others, including the driver, the gunman and personal assistant of the legislator.
On October 29, 2009, a car bomb exploded in a busy market of Peshawar Mina Bazaar, killing 117 people and injuring 200 others. The high-intensity blast also destroyed shops, buildings and mosques. Similarly, in 2010, a total of 26 blasts were reported in which 489 people, including 99 policemen, were killed and 767 others, including 251 cops, were injured. In other incidents of terrorism, 456 people were killed and 745 injured.
On January 1, 2010, at least 90 people, most of them youngsters, were killed and over 60 injured when a suicide bomber exploded an explosives-laden truck in the middle of a volleyball ground in Shah Hasan Khel village of Lakki Marwat district in Bannu division.  On September 7, 2010, 20 people, mostly women and children, were killed and more than 94 others injured in a car bomb attack near Kohat police lines in Kohat district.
The unstopped terrorist activities continued and 19 people, including nine policemen and three students, were killed and 34 injured when a suicide bomber in an explosive-laden car hit a police station of Lakki Marwat district.
In 2011, a total of 32 suicide blasts were reported, killing 411 people, including 142 policemen, and injuring 705 others, including 295 police personnel. In other terror incidents, 1,206 people, including 364 militants, 511 civilians and 331 personnel of security forces, lost their lives.
On March 31, 2011, a suicide bomber struck a convoy, carrying JUI-F Chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman, near the DCO office on Nowshera Road in Charsadda district, killing 12 persons and injuring 42 others.
The year 2011 also witnessed an eye-opening incident in Abbotabad when US troops launched an operation, targeting Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden. The operation was launched at midnight. Pakistan army was not informed of the operation, which caused a wave of anger in the country’s top-ranking civil and military leadership.
After this incident, 90 people – 73 paramilitary forces and 17 civilians – were killed when twin suicide bombers attacked Pakistan paramilitary personnel at an FC training centre in Shabqadar tehsil, Charsadda district.
On May 26, a suicide bomber blew up a car laden with explosives at a checkpoint close to Hangu police station and Hangu DPO office, killing 32 persons and injuring 60 others.
On June 2, 27 personnel of security forces became victims to an Afghan Taliban attack on Shaltalo security post in Upper Dir district near the Afghanistan border. 45 militants were also killed in the clash.
In 2012, a total of 29 suicide attacks were reported, killing 300 innocent people, including 86 police personnel, while 506 others, including 286 policemen, were also injured. In addition, remote-controlled blasts claimed 195 lives while 656 others were also injured. On May 25, in a tragic incident, seven passengers were shot dead and three others wounded when armed militants opened fire on a Swabi-bound bus on National Highway at Rinn Shakh near Qazi Ahmed Taluka town in Shaheed Benazirabad district.
Another major incident occurred in Buner when an anti-Taliban chief of peace Lashkar, Fateh Khan, was targeted along with his four guards in a suicide attack in Daggar area of Buner. The TTP claimed responsibility for the attack, saying it had targeted Fateh Khan for leading an armed resistance against the militants. On November 7, six persons, including SP Investigation Hilal Haider and four other policemen, were killed in a suicide attack in Qissa Khawani Bazaar of Peshawar. The TTP claimed responsibility for this attack too.
On December 15, PAF base inside Bacha Khan International Airport Peshawar was attacked by militants, resulting in the killing of seven people and 10 militants. Security forces successfully averted the attack.
On December 27, more than 400 TTP militants stormed security checkpoints in FR Peshawar in Fata at late night, killing two Levies personnel and abducting 22 others. The militants destroyed two check-posts and also took away weapons and a double-cabin pick-up, besides setting a vehicle on fire. Later, the abducted security personnel were killed.
On December 22, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Senior Minister Bashir Ahmad Bilour was killed along with seven other persons when a suicide bomber targeted him after a public gathering In Qissa Khawani area of Peshawar.
The year 2013 also took a violent start and in the first two and a half months, the death toll rose to 100 while 2,015 others were also injured.
On February 18, a suicide bomber attacked the office of the political agent of Khyber Agency, killing five people, including the assistant political agent, and injuring 15 others. On March 10, some unknown person planted a bomb inside a mosque in Mina Bazaar area, which resulted in the killing of six persons and injuries to 29 others. During the last five years, militants took lives of brave police officers like DIG Malik Saad, DIG Abid Ali, FC Commandant Sifwat Ghayur and three SPs. These officers laid down their lives while discharging their duties. Frontier Constabulary Commandant Sifwat Ghayur was martyred along with his three FC guards while 10 other persons were injured when a suicide bomber attacked his vehicle at FC Square near Deans Trade Centre, Peshawar Sadar.
SP Rural Kalam Khan was killed in a suicide blast attack on his car at Peshtakhara Square when he was going to his office from Hayatabad. The militants also killed SP Rural Khursheed Khan in Mattni area when he was coming from a semi-tribal area.
SP Investigation Hilal Haider was targeted in a suicide blast near Khan Raziq police station, Peshawar. He was among the five other police cops killed in the attack.
This report does include the militants killed in the military operations while the authorities claim that more than 10,000 militants have been killed in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Fata.