Terror incidents in Fata decreased by 44 percent:FRC

By Ashrafuddin Pirzada

FATA: Comparing to the first and second violent quarters of this year,Fata Research Centre (FRC) in a research based security report said that violent incidents both terrorism and counter terrorism have witnessed as significant decline by 44 percent from July to September 2017,officials said on Thursday.

Lead researcher and security analyst Irfanuddin told this bloger that Fata research Centre had collected data from different sources and issued its third quarter security report in Fata. He said from April to June this year more than 100 violent incidents had happened in the tribal areas.  He said 56 terrorism and counter terrorism incident were reported from July to September of the current year in Fata.

Irfan said  comparing to the past quarters of this year they have observed a significant a decline of 44 percent in violent incidents in all seven tribal agencies. However, he said the third quarter of 2017 was slightly higher than the third quarter of 2016 in which only 52 violent incidents were reported.

The terrorism incidents resulted in 141 casualties in which 66 persons were killed while 75 injured across Fata from July to September”, said Irfanuddin. He added that more than 137 people were killed while 172 other  injured in the previous quarter from April to June this year.

The official said 60 civilians,18 security personnel and 35 militants were killed in Fata in the past few months. He said it was assumed that civilians remained the main target of terrorist organization in Fata

 He said Bajaur agency was at top where five citizens were killed while 32 others were injured in the past few months. He said 10 people were killed in Mohmand agency while Khyber agency.

He said Improvised Explosive Devices, planted both by security forces and terrorist remained the major threat to civilians in Fata particularly in Mahsud area of South Waziristan.  

He said in the past three months total 33 terrorism related incidents while 23 counter terrorism related incidents were reported in Fata . He said 17 terrorist attacks were carried out to target the security forces while 15 attacks conducted against citizens in Fata.

 The FRC official said militants conducted only one percent attacks to target AmnLashkars volunteers constituted to back the government for peace maintenance. He said Improvised Explosive Devices, planted both by security forces and terrorist remained the major threat to civilians in Fata particularly in Mahsud area of South Waziristan.

As a part of ongoing military operation “Rad-ul-Fasad” and “Khyber IV,Irfanuddin said 23 counter terrorism operations were launched in all the seven tribal agencies during the third quarter of 2017. He said the majority of the terrorist attacks were carried out mostly in areas closed to Afghan border where terrorism had planted IEDs to target the security personnel and Pakistani citizens.

The FRC official said 18 search and clearance operations were conducted against terrorist outfits where militants established suspected hideouts and sanctuaries in Fata. He said Pakistani jetfighters have also conducted two aerial strikes against terrorists in Rajgal border areas of Khyber agency. He said United state carried out drone strike against terrorist a few weeks ago, killing several people in Kurram Agency. He said a significant downward trend of terrorism related incident was suggested during the third quarter from July to September  2017.  

 Irfanuddin said civilian casualties witnessed a significant decline during the third quarter which was the signifies of the improvement in security situation in Fata.