Over 3,700 police personnel killed in 450 suicide attacks since 2002

ISLAMABAD: More than 3,700 police personnel lost their lives in the line of duty in around 450 suicide attacks since 2002 across the country, official data revealed.

Two senior police officers -- SSP Operations Zahid Gondal and DIG Traffic Lahore Capt (R) Ahmad Mobin -- were the latest victims who were killed in a suicide attack executed by a bomber near the Punjab Assembly on Monday.

More than 7,000 civilians also lost their lives while over 14,270 were injured in these suicide attacks in the past 14 years. More than 750 police personnel were killed in Sindh, 1,457 in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, 450 in Balochistan, 370 in Punjab and the rest of them were killed in Fata, Gilgit-Baltistan and Azad Jammu and Kashmir.

Following this chronology of suicide attacks on police personnel, the data further revealed that armed militants wearing suicide vests killed over 60 young police men in a police academy in Quetta six months back.

A suicide bomber also killed some 17 policemen and injured 80 others outside the Lahore High Court, minutes before the arrival of an anti-government lawyers' procession in 2008. Three policemen, including CID SP Chaudhry Aslam Khan, were killed in an attack at Lyari Expressway Karachi in January 2013. Additional Inspector Safwat Ghayur was killed in a suicide attack in 2010 while 13 policemen were killed in a suicide blast targeting a bus carrying 50 police officers near the gate of Razzakabad Police Training Centre in Shah Latif Town of Karachi.

A suicide blast in Iqbal Town Lahore had also killed at least nine policemen standing guard on the eve of the Independence Day in 2007. Similarly, 13 police personnel lost their lives in a terror attack at Satellite Town, Quetta on January 13, 2016.

Two policemen lost their lives in a terror attack in Shabqadar, Charsadda in March, 2016. Three policemen were martyred in Mardan in May last year. Three policemen were killed in district and sessions court in Mardan in September 2016, while five cops were martyred in Shikarpur in the same month. The data further revealed that two policemen were killed in an attack on Police Lines in Lahore in February, 2015.

A senior policeman, Inspector Shafiq Tanoli was killed in a suicide attack in Old Sabzi Mandi area of Karachi in April, 2013. Two policemen were killed when a suicide bomber rammed his explosive-laden vehicle into a security post in Spin Thall area of Hangu district. A policeman was killed when two suicide bombers blew themselves up in the courtroom of Peshawar session judge, while 21 police officials were killed in a suicide blast at a funeral in the Police Lines of Quetta.

At least 16 police recruits were killed and 11 others sustained injuries after a suicide bomber detonated explosives strapped to his body at the Mingora Police Station. Some 19 policemen were killed and more than 40 persons wounded in a suicide attack near Melody Market in Islamabad. A suicide bomber blew himself up at Dera Ismail Khan Police Lines which killed 12 police personnel. Two policemen were killed in Youhanabad next month.

Two policemen were killed in Umarzai town in Charsadda in April, 2015 while four policemen were killed in a suicide attack near Qaddafi Stadium in Lahore in May, 2015. Two policemen were killed in an attack in Hayatabad after a month.