Pakistan: 748 per cent rise in terror deaths over 10 years

New Delhi: Pakistan's rising graph of terrorism-related deaths shows no sign of slowing, with 43 people dead and 20 injured when six motorcycle-borne terrorists raked a bus with automatic gunfire in the Pakistani port city of Karachi on Wednesday.

Terrorism-related deaths in Pakistan increased 748.15 percent between 2005 and 2014. Over the same period, India saw a 70 percent decline in terrorism-related deaths.

As many as 56,480 people have been killed in Pakistan since 2005, at an average of nearly 14 a day.

Pakistani civil society activists carry placards as they shout slogans during a protest against the killing of the Shia Ismaili minority, by gunmen in Islamabad on Wednesday. Pic/AFP

Of those dead, 54.43 percent (30,799) were terrorists, 34.95 percent (19,740) civilians and 10.52 percent (5,941)security forces.

The bus attacked in Karachi was reported to be carrying around 60 Ismaili Shia Muslims. No group has so far claimed responsibility for the attack. Pakistan's Shia Muslims have been frequently targeted by the Pakistani Taliban and other Sunni Muslim extremists.

Prior to the bus attack, 1,520 people have been killed in Pakistan in 2015 alone from terrorism-related violence, according to the latest data released by the South Asian Terrorism Portal.

Like Pakistan, neighbouring India too has suffered the effects of terrorism, although at a lesser level.

Since 2005, 19,385 persons have been killed, at an average of nearly five a day. Of these, 45.97 percent (8,911) were terrorists, 37.72 percent (7,312) civilians and 16.31 percent (3,162) security forces.

In India, 251 people have died so far in 2015 from terrorism-related events.