49,000 Pakistanis lose lives in ‘war on terror’

Pakistan has lost 49,000 security personnel and civilians to the so-called war on terror since 2001, media reports said on Wednesday.

Government agencies had earlier put the figure at 40,000. Spy services informed the Supreme Court in Islamabad that more than 24,000 people were killed in terrorist attacks and another 25,000 during military offensives against insurgents in the restive tribal regions since 2008.

The armed forces have suffered 15,681 casualties in the counterinsurgency offensives since 2008, according to The Express Tribune. At least 5,152 civilians had been killed and 5,678 injured in bomb blasts and suicide attacks since 2008, it reported.

Referring to a report submitted to the apex court, the daily said 3,051 militants were killed and 1,228 wounded in security operations. Over the past five years, 235 suicide attacks, 9,257 rocket strikes and 4,256 bomb explosions hit the country.

Raja Muhammad Irshad, counsel for the intelligence agencies, submitted the report pertaining to military operations in the tribal belt near the Afghanistan border.

The highest number of casualties occurred in 2009, said The News International. In target killings, about 243 people lost their lives and 275 others were injured from 2010 to 2013. Some 1,030 schools and colleges were destroyed.

Source: agencies