Terror incidents in KP record increase in 2020

PESHAWAR: An increase in terrorist incidents was reported in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa during 2020 while target killings, extortions and kidnappings dropped decreased in the last 12 months, official statistics said.

The inspector general of police KP, Sanaullah Abbasi, however, told The News that the number of the mentioned terrorist incidents included engagements by the law-enforcement agencies in which terrorists were killed, injured or arrested and the terror bids were foiled. The official statistics of the Counter-Terrorism Department (CTD) revealed that 156 terrorist incidents were reported in KP in 2020. The number of such incidents in 2019 was 104.

According to the statistics, the incidents have increased by around 50 percent in 2020 compared to the previous year. As many as 95 of these incidents were reported in the erstwhile Fata while 61 happened in the rest of the KP during the last year.

A total of 104 terrorist incidents were reported in 2019, including 53 in newly merged districts and 51 in the rest of the KP. The KP Police have registered 104 cases and arrested 144 accused under Financial Action Task Force (FATF), it said, adding, as many as 46 of these accused were convicted by the courts while Rs83.69 million were recovered in different actions.

A number of actions were taken against the people involved in money laundering and other related crimes. As many as 95 terrorists were killed in different operations in KP in 2020 compared to 51 in 2019. Besides, 381 terrorists were arrested during the last year compared to 395 in 2018. The number of terrorists convicted by the courts remained 84 in 2020 and 48 in 2019.

The number of incidents of kidnappings, extortions and target killings dropped during the past year though. As per the statistics, the number of kidnappings dropped from six incidents in 2019 to one case in 2020. The extortion cases fell from 36 to 32 while the target killings decreased from 35 to 23. A number of accused involved in target killings and extortions were also arrested during the last year.

During the last year, over 2,300 intelligence-based operations (IBOs) were carried out in which 2,648 suspects were rounded up and interrogated. The number of IBOs in 2019 remained 1,327 in which 1,074 suspects were held and interrogated. The statistics showed that the number of encounters with terrorists totalled 41 in 2020 compared to 15 in 2019. As per the official data, 285 proclaimed offenders in terrorist incidents were arrested during 2020 against 183 in 2019.