Conflict-related deaths in Pakistan surged 74% in 2025 to 3,413, the highest in over a decade. The spike was driven by a surge in fidayeen attacks and the proliferation of US-origin weapons from post-withdrawal Afghanistan, revealed the data from the Pakistan Institute for Conflict and Security Studies (PICSS), an Islamabad-based think tank.
Pakistan witnessed its deadliest year in more than a decade in 2025, as conflict-related deaths jumped by 74% compared to the previous year, according to data released by the Islamabad-based Pakistan Institute for Conflict and Security Studies (PICSS). The spike in the number of fatalities in Pakistan was driven by a sharp rise in fidayeen (suicide) attacks, the use of US-origin weapons from Afghanistan by militants, and Islamabad’s own counterterrorism operations against outfits like the Pakistani Taliban and the Baloch Liberation Army (BLA).
The think tank recorded 3,413 deaths linked to militant violence and counterterrorism operations, up from 1,950 in 2024, reported news agency Associated Press.
According to the PICSS data, more than half of those killed, which is 2,138 people, were militants, which shows the scale and intensity of evolving lethality of attacks against the Islamic Republic. Many of the suicide bombings were carried out using advanced weapons.
Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari, in his New Year message, acknowledged the grave security situation facing Pakistan.
Pakistan is increasingly fighting a two-front internal war, with militancy resurging in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and ethno-nationalist insurgency intensifying in Balochistan. This has stretched the Asim Munir-led Pakistani military’s counterinsurgency capacity too.
HOW AMERICAN WEAPONS RESULTED IN 2025 BEING DEADLIEST YEAR FOR PAKISTAN
One of the most consequential shifts highlighted in the report is the increased use of US military equipment by militant groups.
According to Abdullah Khan, the Managing Director of PICSS, weapons and equipment left behind after the US withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021 have gradually made their way into the hands of the TTP and other armed groups.
Around half a million weapons seized by the Taliban in Afghanistan after the US withdrawal have gone missing, been sold, or smuggled to militant groups, the BBC reported in April 2025. The Taliban had taken control of nearly a million US-funded weapons and military equipment after returning to power in 2021.
A UN report released in February 2025 warned that al-Qaeda-linked groups, including the TTP, the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan, the China-based East Turkestan Islamic Movement, and Yemen’s Ansarullah movement, were either accessing Taliban-captured arms directly or procuring them through black markets.
This handover of superior weapons enhanced the operational capacity and firepower of the TTP against Pakistan.
Pakistan has repeatedly raised concerns over this issue, arguing that unaccounted-for American military hardware has destabilised the region.
SURGE IN SUICIDE BOMBINGS IN PAK IN 2025
Another defining feature of 2025 was the resurgence of fidayeen-style attacks in Pakistan, particularly suicide bombings.
The PICSS recorded 26 suicide attacks in 2025. It was a 53% increase from 2024, making them a key driver behind the rising death toll. These attacks disproportionately targeted security forces, convoys, and sensitive installations linked to the Chinese interests in the restive province of Balochistan.
It is no longer the men affiliated to the Baloch armed separatists who are dealing heavy blows to the Pakistani establishment. Once silent victims, Baloch women from diverse backgrounds are now at the forefront of a growing resistance against the joint exploitation of Balochistan by Pakistan and China.
Earlier in 2025, a woman identified as Banuk Mahikan Baloch from Gwadar, targeted a Frontier Corps patrol vehicle in Balochistan’s Kalat, killing one person and injuring three security personnel.
In total, 1,066 militant attacks were documented in 2025, with multiple groups, including the TTP, claiming responsibility for most incidents.
PAKISTAN’S SECURITY FORCES SUFFERED HEAVIEST LOSES SINCE 2011
The renewed militant offensive came at a heavy cost for Pakistan’s security establishment.
The report noted that 667 security personnel were killed in 2025, marking a 26% rise from the previous year and the highest annual figure since 2011.
Civilian casualties also climbed sharply. PICSS recorded 580 civilian deaths, the highest since 2015, along with the killing of 28 members of pro-government peace committees, groups often targeted for cooperating with the state.
MILITANT FATALITIES BIG CHUNK OF FATALITIES IN PAK IN 2025
The PICSS data shows that militant fatalities rose by a staggering 124% from 2024, largely due to stepped-up operations against the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP).
The TTP, which, according to Kabul, operates independently of Afghanistan’s ruling Taliban, significantly escalated attacks on Pakistani security forces in recent years, particularly in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan.
Militants accounted for the largest share of fatalities in 2025 due to aggressive counterterrorism campaigns by the Pakistani establishment, according to Abdullah Khan, the Managing Director of PICSS. He added that the nature of militant violence itself has also changed.
To sum up, 2025 marked a lethal inflection point for Pakistan, a reality even acknowledged by President Asif Ali Zardari in his New Year message to the nation. It will therefore be interesting to see whether Pakistan continues to accuse India for the homegrown attacks it faces or works towards “a comprehensive, whole-of-nation approach” involving “socioeconomic and political measures as well as local community support”, as underlined by former Pakistani diplomat Maleeha Lodhi in her piece in the Karachi-based daily, Dawn.
