July 23, 2007	Monday	Rajab 07, 1428

PESHAWAR, July 22: A whopping 194 people or 43 per cent of all those killed in suicide attacks in the past 18 months were killed in the past 22 days. July has proven to be the deadliest since early 2006 with 13 suicide attacks or 37 per cent of the 35 incidents occurring in the past 19 days in which 168 people, including 85 security personnel, were killed.

Sixteen of the incidents occurred in the NWFP, 10 in Fata and nine in other parts of the country, including three in Karachi, two each in Islamabad and Hub, and one each in Quetta and Kharian Cantonment.

About 199 people were killed in the suicide bombings in the NWFP, 64 of whom were targeted in tribal areas while 131 of the casualties occurring in other areas of the country.

Six of the bombings took place in the NWFP, five in the Federally-Administered Tribal Areas and one each in Islamabad and Hub in Balochistan.

All attacks this month occurred after July 3 following the start of the Lal Masjid siege by security forces while 12 of them were carried out after July 10 assault on the mosque-madressah complex.

In the six incidents in NWFP, 74 people were killed, including 41 personnel of law-enforcement agencies. Three incidents occurred in Swat while one each in Dera Ismail Khan, Hangu and Kohat districts.

Three of the incidents took place on July 19 when the bombers struck in Hub, Hangu and Kohat.

The deadliest of all the attacks was the one occurring in the Nishtar Park in Karachi, when a suicide bomber hit a religious congregation on April 11, 2006, killing 58 people.

January was the second most deadly month of the year with four suicide bombings, two in the NWFP (Peshawar and DI Khan), one each in Islamabad and Mirali in North Waziristan.