Roundup: 35 Killed, 86 Injured In 22 Bomb Attacks In Pakistan In July

At least 35 people were killed and 86 others injured in 22 bomb blasts across Pakistan during the month of July as the number of attacks dropped after Pakistani security forces started a large scale operation in militants' strong hold in the northwestern region of the country, according to official statistics.
July was the first month of the current year when there was no suicide attack.
According to the statistics, the number of causalities during July were almost 47 percent less than the causalities occurred in the previous month of June, 2014.
On a month-on-month basis, the number of killings in bomb attacks during July, 2014 dropped by almost 73 percent when compared to the causalities in the same month last year.
The worst attack of the period came on July 17, when a roadside planted bomb hit a school van in northwestern Hangu district, killing eight school children and leaving three others injured.
On July 4, at least four persons including two terrorists were killed and eight others injured in a bomb blast outside a mosque in the southern port city of Karachi. According to police, the incident took place when two terrorists carrying a bomb accidentally crashed their motorcycle into another motorbike that triggered the explosion.
On July 19, a roadside remote-controlled bomb blast targeted a security forces vehicle in the country's southwestern district of Khuzdar, killing three people including one security person and leaving 27 others injured.
In the past, the banned outfit Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) claimed responsibility for the major attacks but during the period no claim came from the group.
According to official figures released on July 27, at least 570 militants and 34 soldiers have been killed so far in the military operation that was launched on June 15 against foreign and local terrorists hiding in the country's northwestern tribal region of North Waziristan. The operation was started after the failure of peace talks and a deadly attack at the country's busiest airport in Karachi on June 8 in which at least 40 people including 10 terrorists were killed.
In the operation so far, military claimed to have destroyed 98 hideouts including bomb making factories and command and control centers, arrested 35 militants while 19 others surrendered before the forces.
Regarding the number of causalities, Pakistan's northwestern tribal regions were the worst hit with seven bomb attacks that killed 14 people and injured 11 others.
Militants carried out eight bomb attacks in the northwestern province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa that killed 12 people and injured 18 others.
The country's southwestern province of Balochistan was the third most hit area where four people lost their lives and 40 others sustained injuries in four bomb attacks.
The southern province of Sindh came under bomb attack twice that killed four people and left 12 others wounded.
Pakistan's eastern province of Punjab was the least affected region with one attack that killed one person and injured five others.
Official statistics revealed that the terrorists carried out a total of 22 bomb attacks at the same number of targets, including three direct attacks at the security force and three at police, killing 28 civilians as well as three personnel from security forces and four policeman.
Some of the attacks were of landmine blast nature, but most of the attacks were planted on the roadsides that were detonated with remote-controlled devices. (Cihan/Xinhua)