By Islamuddin Sajid
ISLAMABAD (AA) - Over 580 people including security personnel and civilians were killed in over 550 suspected militant attacks across Pakistan during the last seven months, according to new data.
According to the Pakistan Institute for Conflict and Security Studies, an Islamabad-based think tank, July saw a surge in anti-state violence with 108 killed and 71 others injured.
The data showed that at least 582 people, including security personnel and civilians, were killed and 610 injured in 557 suspected militant attacks since January.
Suspected militant attacks rose in the northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province bordering Afghanistan in July as the province witnessed 36 militant attacks, resulting in 60 deaths and 27 injuries.
The southwestern Balochistan province witnessed 12 militant attacks, causing 12 deaths and 24 injuries, while the Sindh province faced five attacks, resulting in six deaths and two injuries. No militant attacks were reported in Punjab, Azad Jammu and Kashmir, or Gilgit-Baltistan.
Last month, Punjab's Counter Terrorism Department also arrested Aminul Haq, a key Al-Qaeda leader considered a close associate of Al-Qaeda's late founder, Osama Bin Laden.
The country’s security forces also killed six key commanders of the outlawed Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), including Najeeb alias Abdur Rehman, Ishfaq alias Muavia, Irfan Ullah alias Adnan, Shah Faisal, Noor Rahman and TTP's shadow governor of Peshawar Abdur Raheem, according to the think tank.
The Pakistan military also intensified intelligence-based operations in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan after recent attacks on forces in the Waziristan, Khyber, and Kurram districts.
At least 29 suspected terrorists were killed while 17 soldiers including an officer also lost their lives in 10 intelligence-based operations carried out by the military in KP and Balochistan in July.
Terror attacks increased in the border areas of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa after Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif approved and announced a "reinvigorated" national counter-terrorism campaign in June to "eradicate extremism and terrorism from the country.”
However, the announcement triggered opposition and criticism from political parties and locals in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
Islamabad accuses "Afghan-based" TTP militants of carrying out terrorist attacks inside Pakistan, while Kabul denies the allegation.