Alarming 45% increase in deaths: Pakistan becomes world’s second-most terrorism-affected country

ISLAMABAD: The scourge of terrorism continues to plague Pakistan making it the world’s second-most terrorism-affected country in 2024, according to the Global Terrorism Index 2025 report. Pakistan — placed at the second spot from its previously fourth position — witnessed an alarming 45pc increase in terrorism-related deaths with the total rising from 748 in 2023 to 1,081 in 2024 — one of the steepest surges globally.

The number of terror attacks more than doubled from 517 in 2023 to 1,099 in 2024, which also marked the first year that attacks exceeded the 1,000 mark since the inception of the Index. The worrisome statistics come a day after forces successfully foiled a cowardly terrorist attack on Bannu Cantonment, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, killing all 16 militants who attempted to intrude into the facility.

Echoing Pakistan’s repeated stance on the use of Afghanistan’s territory by the banned Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and other terrorist organisations to carry attacks against Pakistan, the GTI report underscored a coinciding significant increase in terrorism in Pakistan and the rise of Afghan Taliban to power in Kabul. Noting that the militant groups operating from Afghanistan have intensified their attacks, particularly along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border, the report said that the TTP remained the deadliest terrorist group in the country, accounting for 52pc of all terrorism-related deaths. The outlawed outfit carried out 482 attacks in 2024, which led to 558 deaths. The attacks carried out by the groups doubled in the previous year, coupled with a 90pc increase in deaths.

“Since the [Afghan] Taliban’s return to power in Afghanistan in 2021, TTP has capitalised on increased operational freedom and access to safe havens across the border. This has allowed the group to plan and execute attacks with greater impunity,” reads the report. The number of attacks attributed to the TTP was at its highest ever on record in 2024, while deaths caused by the group were at their highest level since 2011, it stated.

Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa remain the most heavily affected provinces — which also share a border with neighbouring Afghanistan — accounted for over 96pc of terrorist attacks and deaths in Pakistan in 2024.

Furthermore, the GTI report mentions the outlawed Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA) for being responsible for the deadliest terror attack of 2024, when a suicide bomber killed at least 25 civilians and soldiers at the Quetta railway station. Attacks by BLA and other similar outfits, the report adds, increased significantly from 116 in 2023 to 504 in 2024 with fatalities increasing fourfold to 388, from 88 in 2023.

On the government’s ongoing counter-terrorism efforts, the GTI report accentuates “Operation Azm-e-Istehkam” — launched by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif in June 2024 — to turn up the heat on militants targeting the state of Pakistan.

The campaign includes airstrikes aimed at eliminating militants and capturing key leaders of insurgent groups. As part of these efforts, Islamabad conducted targeted airstrikes in Afghanistan’s Paktika province, focusing on TTP camps.