Summary Points:
CRSS reports 3,187 deaths in 2025, with Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan accounting for over 96% of fatalities and 92% of all violent incidents.
Security operations killed 1,795 militants, but in Balochistan terrorist attacks still caused more civilian and security-force deaths than militants eliminated.
Pakistan continues to grapple with escalating terrorism, with violence-related incidents rising by 25 per cent in 2025 compared to the previous year, according to a think tank report released in Islamabad. Khyber Pakhtunkhwa remained the most affected province.
Data from the Islamabad-based Centre for Research and Security Studies (CRSS) shows that Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan together accounted for more than 96 per cent of the 3,187 fatalities and 92 per cent of all incidents recorded between January and November 2025.
“Till November, an overall surge of 25 per cent was observed in violence, which resulted in 3,187 deaths in comparison to 2,546 casualties in 2024, a rise of around 20 per cent,” the CRSS report, published on Wednesday, said.
In 2024, 2,546 deaths and 1,981 injuries were reported across the country, covering civilians, security personnel and militants killed in anti-terror operations.
The 2025 fatalities stemmed from 1,188 incidents of violence, including terror attacks and counter-terrorism operations, largely concentrated in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan.
The report noted that violence in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has surged to its highest levels in recent months amid clashes and strained ties with Afghanistan. CRSS, founded by civil society activists, monitors Pakistan’s security landscape.
The government blames the banned Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) for a spate of attacks following the collapse of its ceasefire agreement in November 2022.
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa accounted for around 68 per cent (2,165) of all deaths and more than 62 per cent (732) of all incidents, while Balochistan made up over 28 per cent of fatalities (896) and over 30 per cent of reported incidents (366).
Other regions — Sindh, Punjab, Pakistan-occupied Kashmir and Islamabad Capital Territory — recorded just 90 incidents and 126 deaths, representing only 4 per cent of the national toll.
According to CRSS, Pakistan averaged about 15 casualties per day during the reporting period.
It further observed that counter-terrorism operations by security forces were highly effective in the first 11 months of 2025, resulting in 1,795 militant deaths — roughly 30 per cent more than the 1,392 people killed in terrorist attacks.
However, in Balochistan, terrorist attacks by mainly banned insurgent groups caused 517 fatalities among civilians and security personnel, exceeding the number of militants killed by security forces by 36 per cent.
