On May 17, 2026, three military personnel were killed when armed individuals, suspected to be Baloch insurgents, launched a coordinated attack on Army posts in the Sorap border area of Mand tehsil (revenue unit) in Kech area of Balochistan.
On May 16, 2026, Baloch Liberation Army (BLA) cadres killed six Security Force (SF) personnel during a clash at the Bypass area of Dalbandin town in Chagai District of Balochistan. The BLA ‘spokesperson’ Jeeyand Baloch claimed responsibility of the attack.
On May 16, 2026, Police killed five militants, including two key ‘commanders’, during an intelligence-based operation (IBO) conducted under “Operation Intiqam-e-Shuhada” (Revenge of the Martyrs) in Bannu District of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP). According to Police, the slain militants were involved in the May 10 suicide attack on the Fateh Khel Police Post in which 15 Police personnel were killed.
On May 16, 2026, BLA cadres killed three SF personnel in an ambush on a military convoy in the Abad area of Kanak in Mastung District of Balochistan. The BLA ‘spokesperson’ Jeeyand Baloch claimed responsibility of the attack.
On May 14, 2026, nine Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) terrorists and four SF personnel were killed in a clash after SFs neutralised a terrorist attack on the Army’s Mena Camp in the Inayat Kalay area of Bajaur District in KP. A TTP statement claimed responsibility for the attack.
On May 13, 2026, SFs neutralised seven terrorists, while five SF personnel, including an Army Major, were killed during a sanitisation operation in the Nosham area of Barkhan District in Balochistan. The Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) stated that Army and Frontier Corps (FC) personnel commenced a sanitisation operation in the Nosham area, during which seven terrorists and five SF personnel were killed.
On May 13, 2026, six SF personnel were killed when unidentified militants ambushed a convoy of more than 20 trailer trucks carrying minerals, reportedly gold, in the Sheikh Wasil area near Noshki in the Mastung District of Balochistan. No group has so far claimed responsibility for the attack.
On May 13, 2026, five SF personnel were killed when BLA cadres launched a heavy ambush on an SF checkpoint in the Kardgah area of Mastung District in Balochistan. BLA ‘spokesperson’ Azad Baloch claimed responsibility for the attack in a statement released on May 15.
On May 12, 2026, at least 11 people, including two traffic police personnel, were killed and 33 were injured in an explosion in the Sarai Naurang tehsil of Lakki Marwat District in KP. According to the Police, a loader rickshaw laden with explosives exploded in a busy market during rush hour. No group has so far claimed responsibility for the blast.
On May 10, 2026, at least 15 Policemen were killed while three sustained injuries in a suicide bombing and subsequent militant attack on a Police checkpost in the Fateh Khel area of Bannu District in KP. No group has claimed responsibility for the attack, so far.
On May 10, 2026, five SFs personnel were killed and four sustained injuries when Balochistan Liberation Front (BLF) cadres ambushed a military convoy on the RCD Highway in the Bencha area of the Surab District in Balochistan. BLF claimed responsibility for the attack.
On May 4, 2026, three SF personnel were killed and several others injured, while two BLF cadres were killed, during a clash when BLF cadres attacked SFs in the Washuk District of Balochistan. BLF claimed responsibility for the attack.
Within a spate of just 17 days, Pakistan has recorded 57 terrorism-related incidents of violence, resulting 200 fatalities, including 85 SF personnel, 58 terrorists and 47 civilians, according to partial data compiled by the South Asia Terrorism Portal (SATP). During the corresponding period of 2025, the province recorded 100 such fatalities, including 51 SF personnel, 24 terrorists and 25 civilians in 39 terrorism-related incidents. So far, in the current year (data till May 17, 2026), Pakistan has recorded 1,408 terrorism-related fatalities, including 447 SF personnel, 672 terrorists and 289 civilians. During the corresponding period of 2025, the province recorded 1,366 such fatalities, including 422 SF personnel, 731 terrorists and 213 civilians.
Meanwhile, overall terrorism-linked fatalities in Pakistan in 2025 had surged to 4,001 (655 civilians, 1,229 SF personnel and 2,117 terrorists), from 2,236 (586 civilians, 754 SF personnel and 896 terrorists) in 2024, an increase of 78.93 per cent. Reversing the declining trend in Pakistan between 2015 and 2019, overall fatalities have been increasing since 2020. With the return of the Taliban in Afghanistan on August 15, 2021, terrorism has increasingly been spilling over into Pakistan. While there were 319 terrorism related incidents in 2020, the number increased to 425 in 2021, 630 in 2022, 921 in 2023, 1,303 in 2024, and reaching its highest in 2025 with 1,720. If the current trend of 676 incidents recorded in the first four months of the year continues, it is likely to surpass the previous year’s total.
There were 1,077 incidents of killing in 2025, as compared to 790 in 2024. 422 incidents in 2025 were major (each resulting in three or more fatalities), in which 3,026 persons were killed (328 civilians, 765 SF personnel and 1,933 terrorists). There were 223 major attacks, with 1,471 fatalities (350 civilians, 442 SF personnel and 679 terrorists) in 2024. Out of 422 major incidents in 2025, there were 28 suicide attacks resulting in 215 fatalities, including 53 civilians, 53 SF personnel and 109 terrorists. There were 22 suicide attacks in 2024, resulting in 162 fatalities, including 46 civilians, 63 SF personnel and 53 terrorists.
Other parameters of violence also indicate a worsening security situation in the country. There were 462 incidents of explosion in 2025, resulting in 802 fatalities, including 207 civilians, 389 SF personnel and 206 terrorists. The number of explosions reported in 2024 was 360, resulting in 497 fatalities, including 185 civilians, 222 SF personnel and 90 terrorists.
The surge of terrorism-related violence in the country, especially in the bordering provinces of KP and Balochistan, can be attributed to three principal factors. First, the United States (US)-Western withdrawal from neighbouring Afghanistan. Second, the fall of Kabul to the Taliban on August 14, 2021. And finally, the collapse of ‘official talks’ between the Pakistan Government and the TTP on November 28, 2022. The spike in violence in the nation was foreseeable, when TTP chief Mufti Noor Wali, in the wake of the collapse of peace-talks, asked his fighters to resume attacks.
When the US pulled its forces out from Afghanistan in 2021, it left behind around USD 7 billion worth of military equipment and weapons, including firearms, communications gear, and even armoured vehicles. The Afghan Taliban seized these weapons during the chaotic US withdrawal. On October 10, 2025, Pakistan’s ISPR spokesperson, Major General Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry, claimed that weapons left behind by the US after its withdrawal from Afghanistan had fallen into the hands of TTP militants.
With the fall of Kabul to the Afghan Taliban on August 14, 2021, TTP found support from their ideological brothers in their campaigns against Pakistan. On February 4, 2026, the 37th report of the Analytical Support and Sanctions Monitoring Team submitted to the United Nation Security Council (UNSC), revealed that the attacks on Pakistan by the TTP from Afghanistan increased. The report noted that Afghanistan had become a sanctuary for militants who used its territory to launch attacks on Pakistan, but also came at a time when the country was facing a renewed spate of violence.
The Director General (DG) Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) Lieutenant General Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry on January 6, 2026, said that 2025 proved to be a landmark and consequential year in Pakistan’s ongoing fight against terrorism. Addressing a news conference, the DG ISPR stated that terrorism remains the biggest threat currently facing the State of Pakistan, adding that counter-terrorism operations during 2025 witnessed unprecedented intensity. Providing details of counter-terrorism efforts, the DG ISPR said that law enforcement agencies (LEAs) carried out 75,175 intelligence-based operations (IBOs) during 2025, resulting in the killing of 2,597 terrorists. He added that 1,235 SF personnel were killed in terrorist attacks across the country. Of these operations, 14,658 were conducted in KP, and 58,778 in Balochistan, while 1,739 operations were carried out in other parts of the country. He added that 5,397 terrorist incidents took place in Pakistan in 2025, of which 3,811 were reported in KP (71 per cent), 1,557 in Balochistan (29%), and 29 incidents in other parts of the country. The DG ISPR emphasised that, after reviewing these facts and figures, an important question arose as to why 71 per cent of terrorist incidents occurred in KP. He said that the primary reason was the politically conducive environment being provided in the province, along with a flourishing political–criminal-terrorist nexus. He described the Afghan Taliban Government as a “mother organisation”, stating that it is organising, training, guiding, and directing the TTP in line with its own structure.
In 2025, the KP Province, which was the most affected by the TTP resurgence, recorded the highest fatalities in a year since 2009. KP recorded a total of 2,359 fatalities (268 civilians, 455 SF personnel and 1,636 terrorists) in 545 incidents of killing in 2025, as against 1,363 such fatalities (288 civilians, 421 SF personnel, and 654 terrorists) in 487 such incidents in 2024, registering an increase of 73.07 per cent in overall fatalities. In terms of SF fatalities, the 2025 tally was the highest since 2009, when there were 494 SF fatalities. Terrorist fatalities in 2025 were the highest since 2009, when there were 4,122 such fatalities. However, the number of civilians killed in 2025 reduced to 268, from 284 in 2024. Other parameters of violence also indicated a worsening security situation in the Province.
After KP, the most affected province in Pakistan was Balochistan, in terms of terrorism related fatalities. Balochistan recorded a total of 1,534 fatalities (347 civilians, 751 SF personnel and 436 terrorists) in 482 incidents of killing in 2025, as against 774 such fatalities (273 civilians, 315 SF personnel, and 186 terrorists) in 250 such incidents in 2024, registering an increase of 98.19 per cent in overall fatalities. In terms of over-all fatalities, the 2025 tally is the highest since the SATP database started documenting fatalities in Pakistan.
The deteriorating security situation in Balochistan and the escalating attacks on SFs are substantially a consequence of the continuing frustration among Baloch nationalist groups over the systematic extermination of ethnic Baloch through enforced disappearances and extrajudicial killings by Pakistan security agencies and their proxies – the ‘death squads’ (state-backed armed militia) – in addition to the persistent neglect of the basic needs of the population. In this environment of chaos, Islamist terrorist groups such as TTP and Islamic State (including the Islamic State-Khorasan Province, IS-KP, and the Islamic State Pakistan Province, IS-PP) have also thrived, even joining the Baloch groups in specific operations. The major active Baloch insurgent groups include BLA, BLF, BRG and Baloch Raaji Aajoi Sangar (BRAS), an alliance of “pro-independence” armed groups.
On January 9, 2026, BRAS released its annual operations report for 2025, claiming it carried out 174 attacks across Balochistan during the year, killing 167 military and intelligence personnel and injuring another 95. On January 7, 2026, BLA released its annual operations report for 2025, claiming responsibility for 521 attacks across Balochistan, claiming that these resulted in the deaths of more than 1,060 SF personnel. BLF, one of the most prominent among Baloch groups after BLA, emerged as the most active in 2025. On January 3, 2026, BLF released its annual operational report for 2025, claiming to have carried out 581 armed actions across Balochistan, which resulted in 929 SF casualties, including 647 fatalities and 282 personnel injured. Earlier on January 3, 2026, the BRG claimed responsibility for 88 attacks carried out during 2025, including 13 targeting train services. In a statement released to the media, BRG stated that 22 SF personnel were killed and 35 seriously injured in these operations.
While these claims conflict with official claims on operations and fatalities, it would be difficult to dismiss them as false. These groups are creating havoc in the security establishment and the administration. Former Chief Minister (CM) and ex-speaker Jan Muhammad Jamali noted, on September 28, 2025, that Government ministers and party leaders could no longer travel safely by road, as armed groups expand their dominance over the region’s highways. On May 15, 2026, Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) parliamentary leader Sadiq Umrani said the security situation in Balochistan had deteriorated to the point where Ministers were unable to travel to their own areas by road, warning that the Government’s law-and-order measures had failed to produce visible results. Speaking during a session of the Balochistan Assembly, Umrani said Ministers were being forced to take indirect routes through other provinces to reach their constituencies. “We first go to Karachi, then reach our areas via Sukkur,” he told the Assembly. Former Balochistan CM and National Party (NP) leader Dr. Abdul Malik Baloch also expressed concern over the situation, saying all highways in Balochistan were currently closed. “We have repeatedly said that the solution to the problems is not bullets but dialogue,” Dr Malik asserted, adding that bullets had been fired in Balochistan for the past 20 years and that a favourable environment should now be created for negotiations.
Although the overall security situation in Sindh remains relatively stable compared to other provinces, terrorism-related incidents in the province in 2025 increased over previous year. Sindh recorded 49 terrorism-linked fatalities (26 civilians, 16 SF personnel and seven militants) in 2025, as compared to 38 fatalities (15 civilians, 14 SF personnel and nine militants) in 2024, an increase of 28.94 per cent. The highest terrorism-related fatalities in the province were reported in 2013, when there were 1,656 such deaths. Civilian fatalities jumped from 15 in 2024 to 26 in 2025, an increase of 73.33 per cent. Similarly, SF fatalities increased from 14 in 2024 to 16 in 2025. Meanwhile, terrorist fatalities decreased from nine in 2024 to seven in 2025. Other parameters of terrorism also increased in the province in comparison to the previous year. There were five major incidents (each involving at least three fatalities) in 2025, as compared to four in 2024 and resultant deaths increased from 13 in 2024 to 19 in 2025. There was also an increase in incidents of explosion, with 14 such incidents in 2024, resulting in 14 fatalities, as compared to nine in 2024, resulting in 10 fatalities.
Further, street crime remained a major headache for the security establishment in Karachi, more than 64,000 street crime cases recorded and over 70 people killed, in such incidents. The Sindh Police official data, based on registered FIRs, showed that a total of 64,323 incidents of street crime, including robbery, mobile phone snatching, and vehicle snatching or theft, were reported during 2025, the actual number is believed to be significantly higher, as many victims either do not approach Police Stations or are discouraged from registering cases. However, a comparison of police-maintained crime statistics shows a reduction from 71,105 street crime incidents in 2024 to 64,323 in 2025, marking a drop of 6,782 cases. Fatalities linked to street crimes also declined, with 70 people killed and 290 injured till the first week of December 2025, compared to 99 deaths and 400 injured reported in 2024. Police figures further indicate that 17,706 mobile phones were snatched at gunpoint in 2025, down from 19,353 cases in the previous year. 6,683 vehicles, including 302 cars and 6,381 motorcycles, were hijacked in 2025 (up to the first week of December), compared to 8,370 vehicles in 2024. In addition, 39,934 vehicles were reported stolen in 2025, compared to 43,382 thefts in the previous year.
Meanwhile, Punjab, Pakistan’s heartland province, recorded relatively lower levels of violence after successive increases over the preceding two years. Punjab recorded a total of 36 terrorism-linked fatalities [two civilians, two Security Force (SF) personnel and 32 terrorists] in 14 terrorism-related incidents of killing in 2025, as against 59 fatalities (nine civilians, four SF personnel and 46 terrorists) in 27 terrorism-related incidents of killing in 2024, a 38 per cent decrease in overall fatalities. 2023 registered a total of 48 terrorism-related fatalities (seven civilians, four SF personnel and 37 terrorists) in 27 terrorism-related incidents of killing. It is useful to recall that the highest terrorism-related fatalities in the province were reported in 2013, at 1,656 while the lowest were reported in 2022, at 11. Other parameters of violence also declined accordingly. There were 24 terrorism-linked incidents in 2025 as against 54 in 2024. This is the highest number of such incidents since 2017, when there were 99 incidents. In particular, incidents of killing decreased from 27 in 2024 to 14 in 2025. The number of major incidents (each involving three or more fatalities) decreased from five in 2024 to four in 2025, and the resultant fatalities from 28 to 22. Similarly, the number of explosions decreased from six in 2024 to three in 2025.
While terrorism has declined sharply in Punjab and Sindh, insurgent and terrorist violence has escalated in the border provinces of KP and Balochistan. Pakistan has been accusing Afghanistan of harbouring terrorists, especially TTP, in its bordering provinces. With the coming of the Taliban to power in Afghanistan, the Pakistan establishment was hopeful that they would control TTP cadres who, according to Pakistan, were operating out of the bordering areas of Afghanistan. However, both the Afghan Taliban and TTP proved to be two sides of the same coin, and Islamabad’s hopes were dashed as TTP continued to attack from across the border.
The Afghanistan-Pakistan border region has seen a succession of two types of violent incidents: attacks by infiltrating militants on SF check posts/camps and exchanges of fire between the SFs of both sides over the issues of border fencing and construction of security posts. According to partial data compiled by SATP, since April 2007, when the first border clash was reported, there have been at least 43 incidents of clashes between SFs on both sides, in which 60 persons, including 41 SF personnel and 19 civilians, have been killed on the Pakistani side (data till December 31, 2025). The Taliban rarely confirms its own casualties.
According to the SATP database, 17 incidents of exchanges of fire between the SFs of both countries have been reported in 2025, resulting in three fatalities (all SF personnel) and 12 persons injured (six SF personnel and six civilians), while the Afghan side conceded one (SF) fatality and six persons injured (three SF personnel and three civilians). In 2024, 16 incidents of exchanges of fire between the SFs of both countries have been reported, resulting in eight fatalities (three civilians and five SF personnel) and 24 persons injured (all SF personnel), while the Afghan side conceded 19 fatalities (11 civilians and eight SF personnel) and 25 persons injured (all SF personnel).
Further, terrorist attacks have also been occurring along the border, in attempts to infiltrate from Afghan to Pakistani territory. According to partial data compiled by SATP, 24 violent attacks by terrorists from across the border, resulting in 222 deaths (214 terrorists and eight SF personnel) and 33 persons injured (25 SF personnel and eight terrorists) inside Pakistan, have been reported in 2025. In 2024, 19 violent attacks by terrorists from across the border, resulting in 74 deaths (68 terrorists and 6 SF troopers) and 14 persons injured (five terrorists and nine SF personnel) inside Pakistan, have been reported.
The deadliest confrontation of the year along the Pak-Afghan border was reported on the night of October 11–12, 2025, when Afghan Taliban forces, supported by terrorists launched attacks on more than 20 border checkpoints along the border. ISPR detailed a series of precision airstrikes and commando raids that reportedly neutralised over 200 Taliban fighters and associated TTP cadres, while dismantling 21 Afghan positions and several terrorist training camps inside Afghan territory. Islamabad confirmed the deaths of 23 Pakistani SF personnel and injuries to 29. However, the spokesperson for Afghanistan’s Taliban government, Zabihullah Mujahid, claimed on October 12 that retaliatory operations carried out by Taliban forces in response to Pakistani attacks on Afghan territory resulted in the death of 58 Pakistani security personnel and injuries to another 30. By midday on October 12, artillery exchanges subsided following urgent mediation by Saudi Arabia and Qatar.
However, allegations and counter-allegations from both sides regarding the harbouring of militant groups across the border continued unabated. The already strained bilateral relationship further deteriorated during late February and early March 2026, ultimately culminating in an all-out military confrontation. On February 26, 2026, Afghan forces reportedly retaliated with cross-border attacks targeting military positions in Pakistan under the Operation Radd-ul-Zulm (Repelling Oppression). Pakistan also initiated Operation Ghazab-lil-Haq (Righteous Fury) on the same day. According to a report by the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) on May 12, 2026, at least 372 civilians were killed and 397 were injured in cross-border clashes between Afghanistan and Pakistan during the first three months of 2026. UNAMA added that it recorded 95 incidents of civilian harm during the first quarter of the year, adding that Pakistani armed forces were responsible for civilian casualties in 94 cases, while Afghanistan’s Taliban authorities were blamed in one incident. Pakistani airstrikes accounted for nearly two-thirds of the civilian casualties, while the remaining deaths and injuries were caused mainly by cross-border artillery and mortar fire. According to the report, the casualties included 72 women, 554 men, 48 girls and 95 boys. One of the deadliest incidents took place in Kabul on March 16, when Pakistani airstrikes targeted the Omid Drug Rehabilitation Hospital. The UNAMA report stated that at least 269 civilians were killed and more than 122 were injured in the attack.
Amid Pakistan’s increasingly strained relations with its neighbouring countries, particularly Afghanistan, coupled with escalating violence perpetrated by the TTP and the BLA, the country ranked first in 2025 on the Global Terrorism Index for the first time, according to the Global Terrorism Index 2026 published by the Institute for Economics and Peace. According to the report, deaths from terrorism in Pakistan are now at their highest level since 2013, with the country recording 1,139 terrorism deaths and 1,045 incidents in 2025. The report noted that the TTP had emerged as the “deadliest” terrorist group in Pakistan and the third deadliest globally. “TTP attacks constitute over 67 per cent of total attacks in Pakistan since 2009, and it is responsible for five times as many attacks in Pakistan as the second most active group, the BLA,” the report added.
Pakistan’s security environment continues to deteriorate amid the resurgence of the TTP, the intensifying Baloch insurgency, and escalating tensions with Afghanistan. Given the sharp rise in terrorist violence, cross-border confrontations, and the growing operational capabilities of militant groups, the country is likely to witness a further aggravation of terrorism-related violence and instability in the foreseeable future.
Note: The article is written by Tushar Ranjan Mohanty, Research Associate, Institute for Conflict Management. Only the headline of the article has been changed.
