Dera Ismail Khan: A Terrorist Hotbed in Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa

Pic Source: Khyber News

(Tushar Ranjan Mohanty)
On December 19, 2025, an Army Major was attacked and injured when his vehicle was intercepted by Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) terrorists while travelling from Quetta to Islamabad, in the Draban area of Dera Ismail Khan District, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, where a checkpoint had been set up on the N-50 highway.

On December 15, 2025, a soldier, Naik Yasir Khan (34), a resident of Mardan District, and seven Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) terrorists were killed during an intelligence-based operation (IBO) in the Kulachi area of Dera Ismail Khan District.

On December 3, 2025, three Policemen, including an Assistant Sub-Inspector (ASI), were killed in an improvised explosive device (IED) blast targeting a Police vehicle in the Paniyala area under the Shaheed Nawab Khan Police Station in Dera Ismail Khan District. ASI Gul Alam, Constable Rafiq and the driver of the mobile van, Sakhi Jan, lost their lives in the incident, the District Police spokesperson Yaqoob Zulqarnain disclosed, adding that another constable accompanying them, Azad Shah, remained unhurt.

On November 30, 2025, two soldiers were killed and an Army Major sustained injuries in a bomb attack targeting a military convoy in the Kolachi area of Dera Ismail Khan District.
According to partial data compiled by the South Asia Terrorism Portal (SATP), Dera Ismail Khan District has recorded at least 238 terrorism-related fatalities (193 terrorists, 43 SF personnel and two civilians) in 2025, thus far (data till December 21, 2025). During the corresponding period of 2024, the province had registered 135 such fatalities (72 terrorists, 43 civilians and 20 SF personnel). In the remaining period of 2024, another two fatalities (a civilian and a trooper) were recorded. With 238 fatalities overall during the current year, and 10 days still to go, the district has already registered the highest fatalities for any district in a single year since 2000. Fatalities in Dera Ismail Khan peaked in 2024, at 137, a record that has been broken during the current year, already with 73.72 per cent higher fatalities.

Dera Ismail Khan has accounted for a total of 1,048 fatalities [457 terrorists, 289 civilians, 266 SF personnel and 36 not-specified (NS)] since March 6, 2000, when SATP commenced compiling data on Pakistan. These fatalities have been recorded in a total of 299 incidents of killing. 109 of these incidents were ‘major’ (each involving three or more fatalities), resulting in the death of 763 persons [345 terrorists, 208 civilians, 186 SF personnel and 24 not-specified]. Out of 109 major incidents during the last 25 years, 33 have been reported in 2025 alone, resulting in 207 fatalities [178 terrorists and 29 SF personnel]. One of the most prominent incident occurred on November 27, 2025, when SFs killed 22 TTP terrorists during an intelligence-based operation (IBO) in the district.

In terms of terrorist attacks on SFs, the worst incident occurred in the night of October 10, when terrorists launched an attack on the Police Training Centre in the Ratta Kulachi area under the Saddar Police Station of Dera Ismail Khan City, in which seven Policemen were killed and 13 sustained injuries. In the ensuing exchange of fire with SFs, six terrorists, including a suicide bomber, were also killed, taking the incident total to 13 fatalities. TTP claimed responsibility for the attack.

The District has recorded a total of 487 terrorism-related incidents since March 6, 2000, including 139 incidents of explosion and 20 suicide attacks. Although no suicide attacks have been recorded in 2025, terrorism-related fatalities rose sharply. With a population of 2.2 million, including 600,000 to 700,000 tribal people and a substantial Afghan
population, Dera Ismail Khan has emerged as a terrorist hotbed in 2025 due to its strategic location at the junction of three provinces: Balochistan, Punjab, and KP. The Saraiki-speaking District, comprising five tehsils (revenue unit), shares borders with South Waziristan, Tank and Lakki Marwat Districts of KP; Mianwali, Bhakkar and Dera Ghazi Khan Districts in Punjab, and the Zhob District of Balochistan.

Two of these adjacent Districts, South Waziristan and Zhob, share borders with Afghanistan. Situated along the Indus River, Dera Ismail Khan has seen significant population growth when residents displaced by military operations against militants in Waziristan settled here. Dera Ismail Khan has served as a transit point for militants operating in each of these areas.

As a result of multiple operations by the Pakistan Army in the tribal areas, the District became relatively peaceful and overall fatalities came down to a low of six in 2020. However, with the Taliban takeover in Afghanistan on August 15, 2021, the District has again witnessed a surge in violence. Terrorist fatalities (193) in 2025, are the highest since 2000. The previous high of 72 in this category was recorded in 2024.

The number of fatalities recorded in the SF category (43) in the current year, so far, is yet to cross the highest figure of 45 in 2023, but is likely to do so by the end of the year.
While the District seen a sharp escalation in terrorism-related violence in recent years, particularly since the Taliban’s takeover of Afghanistan in 2021, the Police forces, the first line of defence, has been the primary target of terrorist activity.

According to a news report of December 3, 2025, quoting the Centre for Research and Security Studies (CRSS), over the past five years, 71 Police officers have been killed and 100 injured in 111 terrorist attacks in Dera Ismail Khan.

Between 2020 and 2025, Dera Ismail Khan witnessed a fluctuating pattern of attacks. In 2020, six attacks killed four Police officers and injured two. The following year, 13 attacks left three Policemen dead and four wounded. In 2022, 24 attacks killed 19 officers and injured 27. The attacks peaked in 2023, with 39 attacks killing seven Police personnel and wounding 27. Though the number of attacks dropped to 17 in 2024, casualties remained high and, as of December 2025, 12 attacks have killed 15 officers and injured 16. While overall terrorism-related incidents has been increasing significantly, creating alarm across Khyber
Pakhtunkhwa, a total of 1,588 cases were reported in 14 Districts and 7,111 individuals were named as accused in various cases, with Dera Ismail Khan recording the fourth highest number, with 152 incidents of terrorism and 865 persons charged in cases of terrorism, according to a report issued by the Counter
Terrorism Department (CTD) on December 10, 2025. The highest number of terrorism cases was
recorded in Bannu, where 394 cases were registered during the year. North Waziristan reported 181 cases, followed by Peshawar with 163 cases.

The latest attack of December 19, 2025, on the Army Major at a checkpoint on the N-50 highway in Dera Ismail Khan District reveals a persistent threat, which IGP Zulfiqar Hameed acknowledged in September 2025. Quoting unnamed officials on September 9, 2025, a news report indicated that terrorist groups routinely set up illegal checkpoints on CPEC routes, including roads connecting Dera Ismail Khan, Bannu, and Tank. The same report quoted IGP Hameed, who confirmed that the threat was serious and ongoing.

In 2025, terrorist attacks on oil and gas installations in Dera Ismail Khan District have emerged as a significant security concern, with outfits like TTP targeting infrastructure of national economic importance. On October 20, 2025, heavily armed militants ambushed SFs guarding a team from Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Limited (SNGPL) near the Kot Lalu area, resulting in the deaths of at least five Frontier Corps (FC) personnel and injuries to another 11. Eight terrorists were subsequently gunned down after intelligence reports were received about their presence in a nearby jungle, prompting the SFs to launch an offensive.

Some of the earlier attacks on the oil and gas infrastructure in the district include,November 13, 2023, two civilians, driver Mohammad Faisal (35) and an employee Asif Kamran (29), as well as a security guard, Sepoy Mohammad Shaheen (33), were killed when terrorists ambushed an oil company convoy in the Darazinda area of Dera Ismail Khan.

On November 7, 2023, terrorists attacked the Alhaj Oil and Gas Company in Dera Ismail Khan, killing two Policemen and injuries to three. An uptick in attacks on critical installations is attributed to TTP’s access to modern NATO weaponry, including night-vision equipment and thermal imaging, which allows them to carry out sophisticated ambushes in remote areas of the district, such as Darazinda and Daraban.

In a media interview published on December 8, 2025, KP IGP Hameed, also acknowledged an increase in attacks on the Police, but noted that the number of Police casualties had decreased compared to last year. He emphasized that advanced technologies, including anti-drone systems and thermal imaging, enabled counterterrorism teams to stay ahead of the militants’ shifting tactics. Hameed confirmed that weapons that were once used by NATO forces in Afghanistan were now being found in the possession of terrorists operating in KP’s tribal belt and southern Districts.

On October 28, 2025, former KP Chief Minister Ali Amin Gandapur laid the foundation stones for several major Police infrastructure projects in Dera Ismail Khan, aimed at modernising the force and improving public safety. The projects include a safe city initiative, a Police facilitation centre, a command-andcontrol centre, a new traffic headquarters, Police Stations, Police Lines and the construction of new offices for the District Police officer and the Regional Police officer. During a briefing, District Police Officer (DPO) Sajjad Ahmad disclosed that the Provincial Government had allocated PKR 2.25 billion for these projects. He explained, further, that under the safe city project, around 500 surveillance cameras would be installed throughout the Dera Ismail Khan city to strengthen monitoring and to control criminal and terrorist activities. In order to strengthen presence on the ground, the Provincial Government has approved an additional 600 personnel for the DI Khan Police Force.

However, till the ongoing Police modernization programme bear fruit in countering the ongoing terrorist rampage, law enforcement agencies will continue to struggle with limited resources and inadequate equipment, facing terrorists armed with modern NATO-grade weapon

Author Tushar Ranjan Mohanty is Senior Fellow at Institute for Conflict Management.
(The views expressed in the above piece are personal and of the author. They do not necessarily reflect Bharat Fact views.)