Table of Contents
Security Incidents
Terror Attacks
Suicide Attacks
Improvised Explosive Device (IED) Attacks
High Casualty Terrorist Bombings
Insurgent Targets, 2002-2006
For more information, see also the Monitor's posts on IEDs and terrorism.
Last updated: August 2010
2010
- "Overall, the number of security incidents increased significantly, compared to previous years and contrary to seasonal trends. This is attributable to an increase in military operations in the southern region during the first quarter of 2010 and to significant anti-government element activities in the south-east and eastern regions of Afghanistan. The military focus remained on the southern region, with operations in central Helmand and Kandahar. Extending the reach of the Government remains the primary goal." Report of the Secretary-General pursuant to paragraph 40 of resolution 1917 (2010) (S/2010/318), United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA), June 2010
- "Data indicates that AOG (Armed Opposition Groups) initiated attacks have grown by more than 35% on Q1 of 2009. [ANSO] confirms a heavy concentration of attacks in four provinces, a notable presence in five others and some capability in thirteen more for a total of 22 provinces within which AOG are conducting operations at this time (58% of country)." ANSO Quarterly Data Report - 1st Quarter 2010, The Afghanistan NGO Safety Office, April 2010
- "Despite the winding-down of Operation Moshtaraq in Helmand, the Southern region continued by far to record the highest number of security incidents in the country, according to UN Department of Safety and Security (UNDSS). There were also increases in IMF/ANSF fighting with AOGs in Faryab in the north, Badghis and Kunduz in the northeast, and Badghis in the west." OCHA Monthly Humanitarian Update no. 14 (March 2010), ReliefWeb, 31 March 2010
- "A total of 1410 of the Afghan National Police have lost their lives in the war against Taliban in the past year on Afghan calendar [...] the Taliban insurgents have organized 4,171 attacks including armed raids, suicide attacks, roadside bombings and ambushes [...]" 1,410 police die in war against Taliban in past year: official, People's Daily Online, 18 March 2010
- "The security situation in Afghanistan has worsened over the reporting period, with an average of 1,244 incidents per month in the third quarter of 2009. This represents a 65 per cent increase over the incidents in 2008. Armed clashes, improvised explosive devices and stand-off attacks constituted the majority of incidents. Improvised explosive device incidents were 60 per cent higher than in 2008." The situation in Afghanistan and its implications for international peace and security (S/2009/674), United Nations Report of the Secretary General, 28 December 2009
- "There has been an average of 898 incidents in the first seven months of 2009, compared to 677 during the same time frame in 2008. Incidents involving improvised explosive devices have risen dramatically, to an average of more than eight per day, 60 per cent higher than the average during the first seven months of 2008." The situation in Afghanistan and its implications for international peace and security (S/2009/475), United Nations Report of the Secretary General, 22 September 2009
- "[2009] saw a 43 per cent increase in the monthly average number of security incidents, 740 of which rose from 519 in the first four months of 2008 to 740 during the same period in 2009." The situation in Afghanistan and its implications for international peace and security (S/2009/323), United Nations Report of the Secretary General, 23 June 2009
- "Insurgent attacks and crime killed around 70 Afghan teachers, students and education workers over the past year, and wounded another 140." Afghan education attacks kill 70 in a year: Ministry, ABS-CBN News, 29 April 2009
2008
- "In 2007 there were around 5,000 'violent incidents' in the 20 worst-affected districts of the country. [In 2008] the total rose to around 7,000." Nato figures show surge in Afghanistan violence, The Guardian, 31 January 2009
- Afghanistan attacks up 40% in east, Pentagon says, Los Angeles Times, 25 June 2008
- Insurgent attacks still up in Afghanistan's east, Informed Comment Global Affairs, 28 May 2008
- Security incidents by week, 2008, Informed Comment Global Affairs, 10 April 2008
- Afghanistan: Graphing the violence, The Long War Journal, 5 April 2008
- 2007 Security statistics released, Vigilant Security Services Afghanistan (c/o Informed Comment Global Affairs), 9 January 2008
List of Acronyms (c/o Long War Journal):
AGE: anti-government elements
IED: improvised explosive devices
VBIED: vehicle-borne improvised explosive devices
SVBIED: suicide vehicle-borne improvised explosive devices
BBIED: body-borne improvised explosive device
CPX: complex attack
SAF: small-arms fire
RPG: rocket propelled grenade
2009
2008 Report on Terrorism, National Counterterrorism Center
Afghanistan and Pakistan:
- The number of kidnappings in Pakistan rose sharply by 340 percent and in Afghanistan by about 100 percent
- Pakistan in 2008 recorded a 50-50 split in the number of Person-borne Improvised Explosive Device (PBIED) attacks and Suicide Vehicle-borne Improvised Explosive Device (SVBIED) attacks; however, in 2007 the split was 58.5 percent (PBIED) versus 41.5 percent (SVBIED). Afghan insurgents have closed the disparity as well, 45.2 percent of suicide attacks in 2008 were SVBIED attacks versus 33.6 percent in 2007.
2008
2007 Report on Terrorism, National Counterterrorism Center
Afghanistan:
"Afghanistan registered a 16 percent increase in the number of attacks in 2007 as compared with the previous year. Despite the increase, activity patterns remain consistent with the previous year where the majority of attacks reported were against police and in complete disregard to collateral casualties; 43 percent of the attacks were targeted against police."
Pakistan:
"Terror attacks in 2007 increased by 137 percent in Pakistan over 2006 attacks. Although the government signed a peace agreement in September 2006 with pro-Taliban tribes in North-West Frontier Province (NWFP) and Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA), the region accounted for 54 percent of the total attacks, up from 23 percent the previous year.
2010
"[...] suicide attacks, assassinations and executions took the lives of 14 per cent of civilians. UNAMA HR recorded 183 civilians killed by suicide attacks and a further 183 civilians killed by assassinations and executions." Afghanistan Mid Year Report 2010 Protection of Civilians in Armed Conflict, United Nations Assistance Mission to Afghanistan, August 2010
"Suicide attacks occur at a rate of about three per week, half of which occur in the southern region. Complex suicide attacks are recorded at roughly two per month, higher than the average of one complex attack per month during 2009." Report of the Secretary-General pursuant to paragraph 40 of resolution 1917 (2010) (S/2010/318), United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA), June 2010
Improvised Explosive Device (IED) Attacks:
2010
"IEDs were the deadliest tactic used by AGEs in the first half of 2010 and caused 29 per cent of all civilian deaths [...]." Afghanistan Mid Year Report 2010 Protection of Civilians in Armed Conflict, United Nations Assistance Mission to Afghanistan, August 2010
"Bombs planted by insurgents have killed 75% more Afghan civilians this year than in 2009 as the Taliban increasingly targets villagers in a campaign of intimidation, according to military reports provided to USA TODAY. There have been 1,859 civilian deaths from improvised explosive devices (IEDs) this year across Afghanistan. That compares with 1,057 in the same period last year." IEDs Kill More Civilian Afghans in 2010, USA Today, August 2010
"Use of the Taliban's deadliest weapon, crude homemade bombs, has reached an all-time high in Afghanistan, where in the last week of June more than 300 of the devices either exploded or were found before they could detonate. The number of improvised explosive devices, or IEDs, in the country has risen relentlessly in recent years, up from about 50 a week during the summer of 2007. The bombs -- made using vast supplies of ammonium nitrate fertilizer, much of it brought in from Pakistan -- account for about two-thirds of NATO's troop fatalities in the nearly nine-year-long war. That figure also hit a per-month peak in June, with 102 dead." U.S. mounts effort to combat Taliban bombs, The Washington Post, July 2010
"The majority of incidents continue to involve armed clashes and improvised explosive devices, each accounting for one third of the reported incidents. The rise in incidents involving improvised explosive devices constitutes an alarming trend,with the first four months of 2010 recording a 94 per cent increase compared to the same period in 2009." Report of the Secretary-General pursuant to paragraph 40 of resolution 1917 (2010) (S/2010/318), United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA), June 2010
"The number of IEDs in Afghanistan climbed from 429 in March 2009 to 989 in March 2010." IEDs in Afghanistan double in past year, The Associated Press, 8 April 2010
2009
"By September 2008, total IED incidents in Afghanistan for FY 2008 were roughly 25 percent higher than the number experienced during the previous year, and twice the number in 2006. Coalition force casualties also increased, nearly doubling from September 2007 to September 2008. As in Iraq, IEDs remained the prime killer on the battlefield, causing more than half the deaths due to enemy action." Annual Report 2008 Joint Improvised Explosive Device Defeat Organization (JIEDDO), May 2009 (graph)
"According to ISAF, in 2008, direct fire incidents increased 40 percent and indirect fire incidents increased 27 percent. IED incidents, including discovered IEDs and suicide bombings, increased 26 percent." Report on Progress toward Security and Stability in Afghanistan, January 2009 (report; graph)
- 2006: 1,931
- 2007: 2,615
- 2008: ~3,295
2008
"IED attacks in Afghanistan are increasing in frequency and lethality, however, at this time the number of attacks is still substantially lower than attacks in Iraq at their peak." The Joint Improvised Explosive Device Defeat Organization: DOD's Fight against IEDs Today and Tomorrow, November 2008 (report; graph)
"While the number of IED attacks increased in 2007 over 2006, so did the number of IEDs that were discovered and pre-detonated, as well as those that were reported by local nationals." Progress in Afghanistan - Bucharest Summit 2-4 April 2008, April 2008 (report; graph)
2007
2007 Security Statistics Released, Vigilant Security Services, 9 January 2008 (graph)
- Total number of IEDs, 2007: ~1314
- Successful IED attacks, 2007: ~711
Washington Post, 30 September 2007
- 2002: 22
- 2003: 83
- 2006: 1,730
- First half of 2007: 1,000
High Casualty Terrorist Bombings (>15 deaths)
(September 11, 1995 – September 10, 2007)
Center for Systemic Peace, High Casualty Terrorist Bombings (HCTB), 11 September 1995-10 September 2007, case list of bomb attacks on non-combatant (civilian and political) targets by non-state actors resulting in 15 or more deaths (Incident List)
| Date | Location | Deaths |
| 9 August 2002 | Jalalabad | 25 |
| 5 September 2002 | Kabul | 30 |
| 31 January 2003 |
Rambasa | 18 |
| 1 June 2005 | Kandahar | 21 |
| 16 January 2006 |
Spin Boldak |
24 |
| 3 August 2006 | Panjwayi | 2 |
| 28 August 2006 |
Lashkar Gah |
17 |
| 8 September 2006 | Kabul | 16 |
| 22 September 2006 | Kandahar | 19 |
| 26 September 2006 |
Lashkar Gah |
18 |
| 26 November 2006 |
Urgun | 15 |
| 27 February 2007 |
Bagram | 23 |
| 20 May 2007 |
Gardez | 15 |
| 17 June 2007 |
Kabul | 35 |
| 10 July 2007 |
Kandahar | 18 |
| 18 August 2007 |
Kandahar | 16 |
Insurgent Targets, 2002-2006
"[P]rimary targets included Afghan government officials, Afghan citizens,
NGOs, educational institutions, and religious figures. Schools were
increasingly targeted in such provinces as Helmand. As one Taliban
night letter warned: 'Teachers’ salaries are financed by non-believers.
Unless you stop getting wages from them, you will be counted among
the American puppets.' This rationale also included targeting
election candi-dates and members of parliament, since 'the elections are a part
of the American program” and those who participate in the
elections 'are the enemies of Islam and the homeland.'” 'Counterinsurgency in Afghanistan', RAND Corporation, 9 June 2008
