During the first eleven months of 2025, Pakistan saw an increase of over 25% in overall violence in its security landscape, recording at least 3,187 violence-related deaths (compared to the total for 2024, i.e. 2,546), and 1,981 injuries – according to the Center for Civilian, Security and Safety Personnel (SS, SS).
The casualties were due to as many as 1188 incidents of violence, including terrorist attacks and counter-terrorism operations. The violence was predominantly concentrated in the country’s northwestern Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (KP) and Balochistan, with both these regions together accounting for over 96% of all deaths and 92% of all violence recorded through January to November 2025.
KP was the worst affected region, suffering almost 68% (2165) of total violence-related deaths and over 62% (732) of violence incidents, followed by Balochistan, which accounted for over 28% of total deaths (896) and over 30% of incidents (36.6).
The remaining regions – Sindh, Punjab, Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK), Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT) and Gilgit-Baltistan (GB) – saw a combined 90 incidents in which 126 lost their lives, accounting for only 4% of all fatalities.
The extent of the violence marks a sharp increase compared to the previous year. The 3187 deaths recorded in just eleven months of 2025 are 25% higher than the total number of deaths for all of 2024.
On average, it corresponded to approx. 15 injured per day throughout the reporting period. A comparative analysis of fatalities reveals a distinct operational dynamic between terrorism and state-led counterterrorism efforts.
Security forces’ operations proved particularly effective during the first eleven months of 2025, resulting in 1795 militant deaths – approximately 30% more than the 1392 lives lost in terrorist attacks.
This indicates that security forces overall maintained significant offensive momentum against armed groups.
However, the provincial breakdown reveals a stark contrast: in KP, the security forces dominated the operational landscape. Deaths sustained during security operations (1,370) exceeded those from terrorist attacks (795) by 72%, underscoring aggressive and large-scale counter-terrorism campaigns as the primary driver of casualties in the province.
In Balochistan, the dynamic has reversed. Terrorist attacks were responsible for 517 deaths among security forces personnel and civilians, exceeding the 379 deaths from security operations by 36%.
This suggests that militant groups in the province have maintained a higher degree of offensive initiative, posing a persistent and formidable challenge to the security forces.
This divergence underscores that while national data reflects an assertive counter-terrorism stance, the situation in Balochistan remains particularly volatile, with militant activity inflicting greater casualties – an alarming indicator of ongoing insurgent pressures in the region.
While the deaths from terrorist attacks were numerically lower than the deaths from security operations.
