On August 9, 2025, a Frontier Corps (FC) soldier, Sepoy Jehangir Khan, was killed by unidentified assailants in the Mir Hazar Khanzadkhel area of Lakki Marwat District in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP). Jehangir and his cousin Asmatullah were grazing cattle when two armed motorcyclists wearing masks opened fire on them. While Jehangir was killed on the spot, his cousin was injured. 

On August 9, 2025, a former military intelligence officer, Habibullah Khan (55), was shot dead by a group of militants in the Ghazikhel area of Lakki Marwat District. The militants, who fled towards the Karmukhel Mountain, also took away an AK-47 assault rifle from Habibullah Khan. 

On August 8, 2025, a clerk in the FC, Merajuddin, who had been on leave for the past week, and his wife were killed while his cousin sustained injuries when unidentified assailants attacked them at their house in the Tatta Bashikhel area of Lakki Marwat District. 

On August 8, 2025, a FC soldier was killed while another three soldiers sustained injuries in a quadcopter drone attack on a security checkpost in the Takhti Khel-Bakakhel area of Bannu District. According to District Police Officer (DPO) Saleem Abbas Kulachi, the attack was carried out using a quadcopter drone, which dropped explosives on the FC post. 

On August 5, 2025, an FC soldier, Ataullah, posted in Balochistan, was shot dead by unidentified assailants in the Lakki Marwat town (Lakki Marwat District). Ataullah had come to his home town on leave when he was targeted, said Police. 

On August 3, 2025, three Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) terrorists and one Policeman were killed while three Policemen sustained injuries when around 70 TTP terrorists attacked a Police post in the Fatehpur area of Bannu District. The fifteen-man post exchanged heavy gunfire for hours. Three bodies of terrorists were also recovered. 

On August 2, 2025, five children were killed and 12 were injured when a mortar shell that they were playing with exploded in the Lakki Marwat District. Aamir Khan, spokesperson for the Bannu region Police stated that the children found the mortar shell in a field and took it to their Sarband village, thinking it was a toy. 

On August 2, 2025, two soldiers were killed and two were injured when terrorists attacked them in an area on the confluence of the Bannu and North Waziristan Districts, in Banu District of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

The Bannu Division in KP comprises three southern Districts: Bannu, Lakki Marwat and North Waziristan. 

According to partial data compiled by the South Asia Terrorism Portal (SATP), the Bannu Division has recorded at least 571 terrorism-related fatalities (54 civilians, 111 SF personnel and 406 terrorists) in 120 terrorism-related incidents in 2025, thus far (data till August 10, 2025). In 2024, during the corresponding period, there were 239 terrorism-related fatalities, including 41 civilians, 71 SF personnel, 123 terrorists and four not specified, in 96 terrorism-related incidents. This reflects a 139 per cent increase in terrorism-related fatalities in Bannu district during the corresponding period of 2025 over 2024. There was a total of 272 fatalities through 2024, including 48 civilians, 84 SF personnel, and 140 terrorists. 

  Terrorism-related fatalities in Bannu Division: 2000*-2025**

Year	Incidents	Civilians	Security Forces	Militants	Not Specified (NS)	Total
2000	0	0	0	0	0	0
2001	0	0	0	0	0	0
2002	1	0	0	0	0	0
2003	1	0	0	0	0	0
2004	2	1	3	1	0	5
2005	24	0	27	53	5	85
2006	52	0	57	161	6	224
2007	94	24	106	259	71	460
2008	41	13	28	42	68	151
2009	62	45	38	245	9	337
2010	15	114	30	14	3	161
2011	12	34	13	2	0	49
2012	12	6	16	10	0	32
2013	22	27	23	34	0	84
2014	9	5	22	5	0	32
2015	14	4	6	42	0	52
2016	7	10	2	0	0	12
2017	3	1	0	5	0	6
2018	12	12	19	25	0	56
2019	26	3	41	12	0	56
2020	32	14	41	59	0	114
2021	55	17	46	57	0	120
2022	87	16	77	169	0	262
2023	107	48	84	140	0	272
2024	178	74	140	280	4	498
2025	120	54	111	406	0	571
Total	988	522	930	2021	166	3639

March 6, 2000; **August 10, 2025; Source: SATP

With 571 terrorism-related fatalities in the first seven months and 10 days of the year, Bannu Division has broken all the records of previous years, even as it accounts for 48.76 per cent of fatalities in the whole province. 

Terrorist fatalities in 2025 already number 406, the highest since Province's tryst with terrorism. 280 terrorists were killed in 2024, and 259 as far back as in 2007. With 111 SF fatalities in the first seven months and 10 days of current month, this is another index that will definitely break the previous record of 140 in 2024. 54 civilian fatalities already recorded in the country are already the third highest, with 74 killed in 2024, and 114 in 2010. 

The Bannu Division has accounted for a total of 3,639 terrorism-linked fatalities (522 civilians, 930 SF personnel, 2,021 terrorists, 166 Not Specified) in 988 incidents of killing since March 6, 2000, when SATP commenced compiling data on conflicts in Pakistan. 

The district-wise distribution across KP saw 2,211 fatalities in the North Waziristan District (138 civilians, 526 SF personnel, 1,391 terrorists, 156 Not Specified); 925 in Bannu District (437 terrorists, 267 civilians, 212 SF personnel and nine Not Specified); and 505 in the Lakki Marwat District (174 civilians, 137 SF personnel, 193 terrorists and one Not Specified). [North Waziristan was an Agency of the erstwhile Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) till May 28, 2018, when FATA was merged with KP.">

The Bannu Division recorded a declining trend in terrorism-related incidents, with fatalities dropping into the double digits 2011, but has seen a dramatic reversal of the trend since the Taliban began to consolidate its hold on neighbouring Afghanistan after the Doha Accord with the US, and after the US-Western withdrawal became a certainty, and surged further after the fall of Kabul to the Taliban on August 14, 2021. Though the Afghan Taliban denies supporting or patronising Pakistan-based terrorist groups on its soil, there is no hiding the reality that such groups have their bases in the bordering provinces of Afghanistan. Though an attempt to start a direct dialogue between the TTP and the Pakistan Government was initiated under the auspices of the Afghan Taliban in May 2022, it came to an end in November 28, 2022 without any progress. 

Indeed, violence continued throughout the 'peace process', and after the negotiations collapsed, the first major strike fell on the Bannu Division on December 18, 2022, when TTP terrorists created a hostage situation at the Counter Terrorism Department (CTD) Complex in Bannu Cantonment (Bannu town). A detained terrorist overpowered a constable and, after snatching the constable's weapon, freed another 34 associates. As soon as they were freed, the terrorists seized more weapons from the armoury and started firing. The terrorists controlled the CTD complex for two days, though efforts to induce them to surrender unconditionally continued. On December 20, SFs took action killing 25 terrorists, and arresting three, while seven surrendered. Three SF personnel were killed during the operation. 10 soldiers, including two officers, were injured. A TTP 'spokesperson' claimed responsibility for the hostage incident and had demanded safe passage for the prisoners to either South or North Waziristan. 

The Bannu Division is strategically crucial from the TTP's perspective, as it connects mainland Punjab (Pakistan) with Afghanistan. Tochi Pass, which is in North Waziristan, connects the Ghazni province of Afghanistan with Bannu. North Waziristan was once considered the most dangerous place on earth, and was long home to the Haqqani Network, now a major partner in Afghanistan's Interim Government. 

With the return of runaway terrorists to Pakistan's tribal areas after the Taliban takeover of Kabul, the Bannu division has become a terrorist hotbed. Thus, KP Province Additional Inspector General of Police (AIDGP)-Operations, Mohammad Ali Babakhel, observed, on December 23, 2022, that the "southern districts, including North and South Waziristan [from among the newly-merged tribal districts"> as well as Lakki Marwat and Bannu districts [from settled areas">, are trouble spots." 

On May 17, 2025, the KP Counter Terrorism Department (CTD) reported that the province had witnessed 284 terrorist attacks in 2025, while SFs gunned down 148 terrorists. According to a CTD spokesperson, two districts of the Bannu Division topped the list, North Waziristan (53 incidents) and Bannu District (35 incidents). The CTD disclosed that 1,116 individuals were named as suspects in terrorism cases across the province, with the highest number in North Waziristan, at 391. 

Some of the major recent attacks in the Bannu Division include: 

June 28, 2025: At least 13 soldiers were killed in a suicide attack on the SF's Bomb Disposal Unit (BDU). 14 terrorists were killed during subsequent 'clearance and sanitization' operations in the Khadi Khel area of Mir Ali tehsil (revenue unit) in North Waziristan District. At least 24 persons, including 14 civilians, with women and children among them, sustained injuries. 

May 29, 2025: At least six terrorists and four soldiers were killed during a clash when the terrorists attempted to attack an SF check post in the Shawal area of North Waziristan District. 

April 26, 2025: Four terrorists and two SFs personnel, Lance Naik Usman Mohmand and Imran Khan, were killed during a clash in North Waziristan District. 

March 28, 2025: At least eight TTP terrorists and seven soldiers were killed, while another six soldiers sustained injuries, during an intelligence-based operation (IBO) in the Sarkati Machi Khel area of Lakki Marwat District. 

March 10, 2025: At least four terrorists and three SF personnel were killed during a clash in an operation in the Sultankhel area of Lakki Marwat District. 

March 4, 2025: At least 16 terrorists and five soldiers were killed in an SF clearance operation after the Bannu Cantonment suicide attack in Bannu District. At least 15 civilians, including four children and two women, were killed and 25 persons sustained injuries in the explosion during the suicide attack. 

March 2, at least 13 terrorists and four soldiers were killed, while 13 SF personnel sustained injuries, when terrorists simultaneously attacked multiple security checkpoints at Spalga, Gosh, Tappi, Barwana, Pipana Lower and Pipana Top, of Miranshah in North Waziristan. 

February 15, 2025: During an IBO in Miranshah, North Waziristan District, KP, six terrorists and four SF personnel were killed. 

January 25, 2025: At least 18 terrorists were killed and six sustained injuries during an SF IBO, acting on the reported presence of terrorists in the Lakki Marwat District.

January 30, 2025: Six terrorists and two Army personnel, including one Major, were killed in and exchange of fire between in the Mir Ali area of North Waziristan District.

January 30, 2025: Seven terrorists and two SFs personnel were killed during an exchange of fire, when unidentified terrorists ambushed an SF convoy that was going from the Datta Khel camp to the Ghundi Post in North Waziristan District.

January 26, 2025: Six terrorists and two SF personnel were killed during an exchange of fire in the Datta Khel area of North Waziristan District. 

January 11, 2025: Six terrorists and two SF personnel were killed in an exchange of fire in the Zangoti area of Datta Khel tehsil in North Waziristan District.

Apart from terrorist attacks, clashes and IBOs, it is noteworthy that terrorists are increasingly using drones to attack he Police and public places in various southern Districts, especially Bannu. Before the injection of drone technology, terrorists had begun to use sophisticated thermal imaging guns to target Policemen and security officials under cover of darkness. These weapons, with thermal imaging scopes, were believed to have been part of the arsenal abandoned by US and NATO forces during their flight from Afghanistan. 

SFs are quite helpless against the new and advanced weaponry now in the possession of terrorists. On March 27, 2025, KP Inspector General of Police (IGP) Zulfiqar Hameed observed that his department lacked modern equipment to fight terrorism, the toughest challenge the province faces. Revealing that terrorists were using advanced weaponry, including quadcopters, which the local Police were unable to counter due to lack of equipment, IGP Hameed asserted: "They [terrorists"> have acquired the latest US weapons and modern gadgets. They're carrying out quadcopter attacks. If we don't advance, how will we fight back, since we don't have anti-quadcopter technology?" He added that terrorist attacks could no longer be countered with the use of conventional weapons alone. 

According to media reports on June 25, 2025, the KP Police acquired a state-of-the-art anti-drone system aimed at neutralising aerial threats. The system was acquired to detect and disable unauthorised drones from a considerable distance. The anti-drone system is to be stationed to protect key government buildings, public figures, and major public events. Despite the deployment of the anti-drone system, the Bannu Division has so far witnessed at least 15 terrorist-orchestrated quadcopter drone attacks since June 25, resulting in three fatalities and 17 persons injured. 

With the deteriorating law and situation in the region, the security establishment and Federal Government are planning major operations. However, on August 2, 2025, KP Chief Minister Ali Amin Gandapur asserted that the federation should not be allowed to conduct another military operation in the province and its tribal areas. 

The political tussle between Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI)-led KP Provincial Government and the Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz)-led Federal Government, has created spaces that the terrorists are fully exploiting to attack SFs and security establishments in the tribal areas, particularly in the Bannu Division.