Tactics amongst suicide bombers appear to have changed markedly in 2010 in Pakistan, according to an analysis by the Jang Media group. Their study showed a 35% decline in the number of attacks but an increase in the overall death toll, suggesting they were targeting larger crowds than in the past.
Indeed, the survey showed 1,224 civilians slain in the bombings, and this was before the 45 additional civilians killed in the Saturday bombing in Bajaur, with another 2,157 wounded (again, before the 100+ wounded in Bajaur).
The overall death toll is actually the highest in Pakistan since the 2001 US invasion of Afghanistan, an comes as a number of record death tolls have also been recorded in neighboring Afghanistan.
The Obama Administration is pressuring Pakistan for a dramatic increase in attacks in its tribal areas, and has even suggested that it may launch a ground invasion of the tribal areas itself. With Pakistan already bearing a terrible price from the US war to its north, 2011 is shaping up to be even worse.
Pakistan is paying a price of a policy they started.
From a Pakistani newspaper..
"We can't escape the blame that easily, said Ardeshir Cowajee in the Karachi Dawn. there is obviously something "radically wrong" with Pakistan that it "manages to produce so many young men who are violence prone". I believe it all began with Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq. Dictator from 1977-1988 and "a devout worshipper at the alter of his own dangerous brand of Islam. Zia brainwashed the Army with the "toys of jihad".
The US is right to be angry at Pakistan for being a haven for terrorists, said Shafqat Mahmood, in the Islamabad News. but we Pakistanis are just as angry. After all, Pakistanis, not Americans, are the victims of the vast majority of attacks by terror groups. The good news is that "never has the state and the armed forces been more committed to fight against militant groups as it is today." The army is already fighting bravely in Swat, Wazeristan,.."
"there is obviously something "radically wrong" with Pakistan that it "manages to produce so many young men who are violence prone"."
sounds like a few other countries i can think of that are waging a war on terror….