Terrorist attacks in Pakistan fall 37% in October to 143, PICSS says, but kidnappings rise 22% with most in Balochistan

Terrorist attacks in Pakistan fell by 37% in October 2026, with 143 incidents against 226 in September, the Pakistan Institute for Conflict and Security Studies (PICSS) said on Sunday, November 1. The drop ended two straight months of rising violence. Kidnappings went the other way, rising by 22% and concentrated heavily in Balochistan.

PICSS is an independent Islamabad-based research group, and its monthly count is drawn from its own tracking rather than an official government tally.

October against September, number by number

Indicator	September	October	Change
Terrorist attacks	226	143	Down 37%
Deaths in attacks	260	111	Down 57%
Injured in attacks	242	69	Down 71%
Suicide attacks	3	1	Down 2
People kidnapped	72	88	Up 22%

Two figures in the report are easy to confuse. The 111 deaths are the toll from terrorist attacks alone. PICSS's wider total for October, which also includes people killed in security forces' counterterrorism operations, is 272 deaths and 71 injuries. Within that total, it counted 53 security personnel, 45 civilians and five members of peace committees among the dead. Militants would account for most of the rest.

Balochistan's two-sided month

The improvement was sharpest in Balochistan and mainland Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, the two regions that have carried most of the violence. Attacks in Balochistan fell by 46%.

But the province also accounted for nearly 80% of all kidnappings in the country. That points to a change in tactics as much as a fall in activity: abductions can bring in ransom money or political leverage, require few fighters, and are harder to stop than a bombing or an assault on a post. PICSS itself called the rise a major concern, and other tallies described kidnappings as being at a 12-month high.

Recent cases elsewhere show that violence has not gone away. On October 31, a police constable was killed in firing at the Lakki Marwat judicial complex, and the assistant commissioner of Mansehra was wounded when his vehicle came under attack in Nowshera.

One good month does not make a trend

The institute has recorded 1,376 terrorist attacks in the first 10 months of 2026, an average of about 138 a month. That means October's figure is close to the year's average, and it looks low mainly because September was unusually bad. A separate PICSS weekly measure, published in late October, showed a fall of 66% over five weeks after security operations.

The report does not say why the numbers fell. Officials have credited intensified military and intelligence-led operations. The fall also came during a period of open tension with Afghanistan, where Pakistan says militants have safe havens, and the armed forces' spokesman said on Sunday that the country remained ready on that front. Whether militant groups are weakened or merely regrouping will only show over several months. Winter weather usually also slows movement in the mountain districts along the Afghan border.

What it means for people in the affected districts

For residents and travellers in Balochistan, the most relevant number is the kidnapping count. Anyone planning road travel in the province should check current movement instructions from local authorities before setting out.

PICSS is due to publish its next monthly count in early December. The figure to watch is whether November's kidnappings fall in Balochistan, and whether attacks stay near October's level.