国际英语新闻:32 killed, 118 injured in 24 bomb attacks in Pakistan in Oct.

ISLAMABAD, Nov. 1 (Xinhua) -- At least 32 people were killed and 118 others injured in 24 bomb blasts across Pakistan in October as the number of attacks continuously dropped as a result of a large scale military operation by Pakistan army against militants in the country's northwestern tribal regions, according to the statistics reported by the local Urdu media.

Out of total 24 bomb attacks, three were of suicide nature that killed 18 people and injured 59 others in different areas of the country.

According to the figures, the number of causalities during October was almost nine percent less than the causalities occurred in September in 2014.

On month-on-month basis, the number of killings in bomb attacks during October, 2014 dropped by almost 61 percent when compared to the causalities in the same month last year.

The worst attack of the period came on Oct. 15, when a suicide bomber attacked a top meeting of pro-government Peace Committee in the Pir Mela area of Tirah Valley in Khyber Agency, a restive northwestern tribal region bordering Afghanistan. At least eight people were killed and 17 others injured in the suicide blast in the downtown area of Pir Mela.

Earlier on Oct. 4, at least five people were killed and 20 others wounded when a suicide bomber blew himself up in a busy market in the downtown of southwestern provincial capital of Quetta. The victims who belonged to the Shia Muslim community came under attack when they were busy shopping.

On Oct. 23, a suicide bomber attacked the religio-political party Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-F (JUI-F) chief Maulana Fazl-ur-Rehman after a public rally in Quetta. The political leader remained unhurt in the attack as he was sitting in a bombproof vehicle. The attack that was widely condemned by the political parties claimed five lives and left 30 other injured.

In the past, the banned outfit Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) used to claim responsibility for most of the attacks but during the period only a couple of claims came from the group.

According to the reports, more than 1,200 militants and over 90 soldiers have been killed so far in the military operation that was launched on June 15 against foreign and local terrorists hiding in the country's northwestern tribal region of North Waziristan. The operation was started after the failure of peace talks and a deadly attack at the country's busiest airport in Karachi on June 8 in which at least 40 people including 10 terrorists were killed.

The Pakistan army claimed to have destroyed over 100 hideouts including bomb making factories and command and control centers of the terrorists. According to media reports, majority of the terrorists had fled to the neighboring hilly areas of Afghanistan after the operation started.

The military operation also succeeded in making cracks in the unity of different militant groups who were fighting under the umbrella of banned outfit of Pakistan Taliban.

Earlier on Sept. 13, Pakistani Taliban's fraction "Punjabi Taliban"announced they would give up militancy permanently and vowed to start welfare work in the country.

Chief of the Punjab Taliban Asmatullah Muawiya from the country 's eastern Punjab province also urged other Taliban leaders and fighters to follow their precedent to lay down arms and come to table for negotiations to solve the issue.

Regarding the number of causalities, Pakistan's southwestern Balochistan province was the worst hit with seven bomb attacks that killed 15 people and injured 59 others. Militants carried out eight bomb attacks in northwestern tribal regions that killed 13 people and injured 37 others.

The country's northern area of Gilgit-Baltistan was attacked by one blast that killed three people and injured 10 others.

The northwestern province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa was the fourth most hit area where three blasts killed one person and injured three others.

The southern province of Sindh came under four bomb attacks that left nine people injured.

The statistics revealed that the terrorists carried out total 24 bomb attacks at the same number of targets, including two direct attacks each at the security force and police, killing 32 civilians and injuring eight security personnel and policemen.

Most of the attacks were carried out by planting bombs on roadsides, that were detonated with remote-controlled devices.