On August 21, 2025, more than 30 militants were killed in a powerful explosion inside a mosque in the remote Hilki area near the Afghan border in the Charmang tehsil (revenue unit) of Bajaur District in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP). Officials said the militants, who had converted the mosque into a base for planning terrorist activities in the District, were storing a large quantity of explosives inside. The cache detonated unexpectedly, killing all those present. According to media reports, the group was preparing for a major attack when their explosives went off. The blast reduced the mosque hideout to rubble. No civilian casualties were reported in the explosion. Meanwhile, a Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) statement claimed that the explosion was caused by projectile attack. 
On August 20, 2025, one soldier was killed while another six, including a Major, sustained injuries, when an improvised explosive device (IED) went off near their military vehicle at the Inayat Kala Bypass of Bajaur District. An Islamic State Khorasan Province (ISKP) statement claimed responsibility for the attack. The statement added that a tricycle laden with explosive had been parked at the side of the road. 
On August 12, 2025, two Security Force (SF) personnel were killed while another 19 sustained injuries, when unidentified terrorists ambushed a military convoy in the Inayat Qila Pathak area of Bajaur District. 
The Tribal District of Bajaur in KP, which shares borders with Afghanistan, has recorded a significant rise in terrorism-related incidents over the past few years. According to partial data compiled by the South Asia Terrorism Portal (SATP), Bajaur District has already seen at least 74 terrorism-related fatalities (10 civilians, 20 SF personnel and 44 terrorists) in 2025, thus far (data till August 31, 2025). During the corresponding period of 2024, the province registered 46 terrorism-related fatalities (22 civilians, 16 SF troopers and eight terrorists). In the remaining period of 2024, another 21 fatalities (five civilians, seven SF troopers and nine terrorists) were recorded, taking the year's total up to 67.
  Militancy-related fatalities in Bajaura District: 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	1	0	0	0	1
2003	0	0	0	0	0	0
2004	0	0	0	0	0	0
2005	1	2	0	0	0	2
2006	3	20	1	3	0	24
2007	0	0	0	0	0	0
2008	1	0	0	8	0	8
2009	2	1	3	0	0	4
2010	0	0	0	0	0	0
2011	0	0	0	0	0	0
2012	0	0	0	0	0	0
2013	0	0	0	0	0	0
2014	0	0	0	0	0	0
2015	0	0	0	0	0	0
2016	0	0	0	0	0	0
2017	0	0	0	0	0	0
2018	3	3	1	0	0	4
2019	4	2	3	0	0	5
2020	10	13	4	2	0	19
2021	12	6	11	6	0	18
2022	7	7	5	6	0	18
2023	25	73	3	15	0	91
2024	37	27	23	17	0	67
2025	21	10	20	44	0	74
Total	127	165	74	101	0	340

March 6, 2000; **August 31, 2025; Source: SATP
Fatalities in the first eight months of the current year in Bajaur have already crossed all previous recorded annual fatalities since 2000, with the exception of 2023, which was the highest due to a major suicide attack on July 30, in which single incident 54 people were killed. Bajaur District has accounted for a total of 340 terrorism-linked fatalities (165 civilians, 74 SF personnel and 101 terrorists) since March 6, 2000, when SATP commenced compiling data on Pakistan. These fatalities have been recorded in a total of 126 incidents of killing. 23 of these 125 incidents were 'major' (each involving three or more fatalities). These major incidents resulted in the death of 201 persons (83 civilians, 29 SF personnel and 89 terrorists). 
The District has recorded a total of 199 violent incidents since March 6, 2000, including 82 incidents of explosion and four suicide attacks. The biggest major attack of the District occurred on July 30, 2023, when a suicide attack claimed lives of at least 54 people, including a Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) local leader, while more than another 100 sustained injuries, at the JUI-F workers' convention at Shanday Morr near the National Database and Registration Authority (NADRA) office in the Khar town of the district. The blast took place during the speech of a JUI-F leader, Maulana Laeeq. ISKP claimed responsibility for the attack. The recent explosion inside a mosque on August 21, in which 30 militants were killed, was the second largest in terms of fatalities in single incident. 
With a population of more than 1.28 million, located on the volatile Pakistan-Afghan border, sharing its Western border with Afghanistan's Kunar Province, Bajaur had been a hotbed of TTP activities. The district shares borders with three other districts of KP: Lower Dir in the North, Mohmand to the South and Malakand to the West. Two of these adjoining districts, Mohmand and Lower Dir, also share borders with Afghanistan. As a result of multiple operations by the Pakistan Army in the tribal areas [the erstwhile Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA)">, the District became relatively peaceful and overall fatalities came down to a low of four in 2018. Since 2019, a regional branch of the Islamic State, ISKP, has primarily been responsible for a campaign of targeted assassination against Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) members in the district. 
The Khorasan Diary (TKD), an Islamabad-based news and research platform that monitors militant groups, noted on August 1, 2023, that the IS-KP had claimed responsibility for at least 23 attacks, exclusively targeting the JUI-F in Bajaur alone, since 2019. Riccardo Valle, director of research at TKD, revealed, on August 1, 2023, 
The IS-KP has a long history of enmity towards JUI-F in Bajaur which goes back to 2019 when the group started systematically assassinating JUI-F activists in Khar, the district's main town. Ever since, the IS-KP has conducted many attacks in Mamund and Khar areas, either claimed or unclaimed by the outfit.
According to partial data compiled by the South Asia Terrorism Portal (SATP), Bajaur has recorded nine attacks targeting the JUI-F, resulting in 62 deaths and more than 105 injuries, since October 29, 2019. All of them were carried out by unidentified assailants, but have been claimed by IS-KP. 
Apart from ISKP, the return of the runaway TTP and its allied groups to the Bajaur Districts from Afghanistan has been a major threat to security since the return of the Afghan Taliban to power in Kabul on August 15, 2021. These militants, who migrated from Pakistan's tribal areas to Afghanistan under pressure of multiple operations by the Pakistan Army from 2012 to 2018, now receive patronage from the Afghan Taliban. 
KP Member of Provincial Assembly (MPA) Anwar Zaib Khan, who represents the PK-20 constituency in Bajaur District, claimed on the floor of the House on January 1, 2025, that terrorists from Afghanistan had captured 15 security check posts deep inside his area. The KP Police Chief was hurriedly summoned to the Provincial Assembly for an in-camera briefing on the law-and-order situation. On a point of order during a session chaired by Speaker Babar Saleem Swati, MPA Anwar Zaib Khan insisted that terrorists had made significant incursions into his constituency: "Terrorists entered the area last Sunday in broad daylight and seized checkpoints before hoisting the flags of the Emirate-i-Islami Afghanistan and shouting slogans in its favour," he claimed, adding that videos of the raid, recorded by the terrorists, were circulating on social media. He claimed that those posts were captured by around 400 militants, and questioned the effectiveness of the border fence. He also claimed that terrorists had dug bunkers in the seized area to fortify their positions. "I'm just wondering how terrorists crossed the fenced border in such a large number," he added. 
With the growing presence of terrorists and rise of terrorism related violences in the District, despite opposition from the Provincial Government and Tribal elders on the issue of displacement of locals, SFs backed by helicopter gunships and artillery launched Operation Sarbakaf against terrorists in sixteen areas of Mamund tehsil (revenue unit) on July 29, 2025. A three-day curfew was imposed in the areas and a notification by the Deputy Commissioner's (DC's) office asked people to remain indoors from July 29 till July 31, to avoid any mishap. The DC imposed a ban on all kinds of movement of individuals outside their homes, on roads, vehicles and all forms of traffic on all roads at in the villages under Operation Sarbakaf, with effect from 05:00 hrs on July 19, till 17:00 on July 31, under Section 144 of the Code of Criminal Procedure. During these three days, at least seven TTP terrorists, three SF personnel and two civilians were killed, while 11 terrorists were critically injured. The main road from the Laghari-Trakho area was secured by SFs. 
Operation Sarbakaf was halted after three days, as KP Chief Minister Ali Amin Gandapur announced that a series of jirgas (council of tribal elders) would be convened from August 2 to decide on future steps on a wide array of concerns among the province's residents. The Provincial Government had opposed the newly launched military operation in Bajaur as it was not taken into confidence by the Centre, and had vowed to oppose the three-day curfew imposed in 16 areas of the district. 
Amid many rounds of talks between the Bajaur Amn (Peace) Jirga and terrorists between August 2 and 8, for the latter's peaceful return to Afghanistan, SF officials have ruled out any compromise with anti-state elements. The seventh session of negotiations between Jirga members and TTP leaders was held on August 8. KP CM and security officials asked tribal elders to expel foreign terrorists, mostly Afghans, or vacate the area for one or two days for an operation against terrorists. Security officials added that the Government's direct talks with terrorists or their facilitators was out of the question, until the terrorists surrendered. 
The talks between local militant commanders and the Bajaur Amn Jirga for their return to Afghanistan hit a snag on August 9. Both sides raised objections on a particular clause under discussion, resulting in a stalemate. Speaking to the media, Sahibzada Haroon Rashid, head of the 50-strong Bajaur jirga, told reporters that the talks with militants "concluded without desired results owing to the development of a serious deadlock over some key issues necessary to resolve the conflict peacefully." While sharing the details of the seventh round of talks, Sahibzada Haroon Rashid observed,
We (members of the Bajaur Amn Jirga) have tried our best with great sincerity and commitment to make the talks with militant leaders a success by convincing them to return peacefully to Afghanistan…but unfortunately, we couldn't succeed in our mission due to the development of a serious deadlock on some main issues". 
With the failure of peace-talks, SFs, assisted by helicopter gunships and artillery, again resumed targeted operation on August 11, pounded terrorist hideouts in the tribal areas of Lowi Mamund and War Mamund tehsils, located about 20 kilometres from Khar, the District Headquarters. 
So far, authorities have not released any details about the ongoing operation. Despite limited media access, however, 30 terrorist and three SF fatalities were reported in the ongoing operation since August 11. At least 25 SF personnel sustained injuries. More than 25,000 families or an estimated 100,000 people in Bajaur, have been displaced, forced to live in overcrowded schools and sports complexes, converted into makeshift shelters. Civilian deaths, such as the killing of a mother and her two children in Mamund tehsil by mortar fire on August 12, have fuelled anger and despair among the local tribal people. 
With the failure of talks, and intransigence on both the part of the terrorists and SFs, the bloodshed can be expected to persist, if not escalate.