ISLAMABAD -- Pakistan is fighting efforts by the "Islamic State of Iraq and Syria" (ISIS) to expand its footprint in the South Asian country, Dawn reported Monday (January 8), citing a study by the Islamabad-based think tank Pak Institute for Peace Studies (PIPS).
In the past year, ISIS claimed responsibility for six terrorist attacks that left 153 people dead, according to PIPS' "Pakistan Security Report 2017" published Sunday (January 7).
Those six attacks were the deadliest in Pakistan in 2017, according to PIPS senior project manager Muhammad Ismail Khan. One was a Quetta church suicide bombing December 17 that killed nine Pakistanis and wounded 44 others.
ISIS has targeted Balochistan and Sindh provinces more than other areas of Pakistan. It has struggled elsewhere in Pakistan because of tight security measures and constant intelligence-based operations, according to Abdullah Khan, managing director of another think tank, the Islamabad-based Pakistan Institute for Conflict and Security Studies.
To help turn back any attempts at ISIS expansion, PIPS suggested placing the counter-terrorism National Action Plan (NAP) under parliamentary oversight. Authorities killed 524 militants in 2017 and 809 in 2016, noted PIPS.
