While 2025 was the bloodiest year for Pakistan in a decade, the new year appears to be on track to be just as bloody — if not more. In January, more insurgency-related deaths were reported than December as Baloch groups ramped up their campaign against the Pakistani state.
While 2025 was the bloodiest year for Pakistan in a decade, the new year appears to be on track to be just as bloody — if not more.
In January, Pakistan suffered more insurgency-related deaths than December as Baloch groups ramped up their campaign against the Pakistani state. Over the weekend,
Baloch Liberation Army (BLA) mounted coordinated attacks on police stations and security posts that killed at least 33 persons.
In retaliation, the Pakistani authorities on Monday claimed the police and army killed at least 177 insurgents over the past two days.
Overall, Pakistan witnessed 386 insurgency-related deaths in January, according to the South Asia Terrorism Portal (SATP).
The breakdown of insurgency-related deaths in January in Pakistan:
| Month | Incidents of Killing | Civilians | Security Forces | Terrorists / Insurgents / Extremists | Not Specified | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January 2026 | 90 | 42 | 106 | 238 | 0 | 386 |
Deaths in January —386— were higher than in December when Pakistan witnessed 341 deaths.
In the entirety of 2025,
Pakistan recorded 4,001 deaths, which was highest since 2014, according to SATP’s database.
Between 2024 and ‘25, insurgency-related deaths surged by 70.93 per cent.
The spike coincided with Pakistan’s deteriorating ties with Afghanistan’s Taliban rulers and simultaneous conflicts with the Afghan Taliban, Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), and the BLA. They not just ramped up attacks in restive northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and southwestern Balochistan provinces but also struck in Islamabad and frequently targeted regional headquarters of security forces.
The last time violence was this severe was in 2014 when Pakistan recorded 5,510 insurgency-related deaths — including 150 victims of the APS Peshawar attack.
Ironically, the TTP that has wreaked havoc in northwestern Pakistan emerged from Pakistan’s own sponsorship of Islamist groups in Afghanistan —including the Afghan Taliban— that first fought the Soviets and later battled Afghanistan’s internationally recognised government. Today, these groups are in open conflict with Pakistan itself. Notably, it was the TTP that was behind the massacre at the Army Public School, Peshawar.
| Year | Incidents of Killing | Civilians | Security Forces | Terrorists / Insurgents / Extremists | Not Specified | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2014 | 1569 | 1471 | 508 | 3268 | 263 | 5510 |
| 2015 | 950 | 866 | 339 | 2407 | 73 | 3685 |
| 2016 | 526 | 541 | 291 | 897 | 68 | 1797 |
| 2017 | 294 | 439 | 216 | 533 | 81 | 1269 |
| 2018 | 164 | 358 | 158 | 162 | 10 | 688 |
| 2019 | 136 | 142 | 137 | 86 | 0 | 365 |
| 2020 | 193 | 169 | 178 | 159 | 0 | 506 |
| 2021 | 268 | 215 | 226 | 223 | 0 | 664 |
| 2022 | 365 | 229 | 379 | 363 | 0 | 971 |
| 2023 | 528 | 398 | 532 | 583 | 0 | 1513 |
| 2024 | 790 | 582 | 754 | 896 | 4 | 2236 |
| 2025 | 1077 | 655 | 1229 | 2116 | 1 | 4001 |
| 2026 (till Jan. 31) | 90 | 42 | 106 | 238 | 0 | 386 |
Pakistan’s internal security situation has plunged at a time when Field Marshal Asim Munir, the Pakistan Army chief,
emerged as the country’s czar and formalised the military control of the country with the 27th Amendment. But his personal rise has coincided with a surge in deaths across Pakistan.
Even though Pakistan’s elites celebrated the fall of Kabul to the Taliban,
the Pakistan-Taliban relationship is now in tatters. The two sides had several rounds of intense cross-border clashes in October that involved ground assaults, cross-border raids, and airstrikes. At the same time, the TTP ramped up the campaign in the northwest and groups like the BLA intensified the insurgency in the southwest.
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