September 28, 2007: The Islamic terrorist war against Pakistan has been conducted mainly via suicide bomb attacks. The Taliban and al Qaeda terrorists avoid facing the army and police in direct combat. While the terrorists can win some of these battles, the risks are too great, mainly because of helicopters and warplanes the government forces can call on. Thus, for the first nine months of this year, the Pakistani terrorists have carried out 51 suicide attacks. Only 43 percent of these were against the security forces (army, paramilitaries and police), the rest were against civilians. Security forces lost 185 dead.

Over 200 civilian deaths were mostly politicians, officials and pro-government tribal elders. Most of the dead have been from conventional fighting, with government forces chasing down terrorists, and often getting ambushed in the process. While the security forces are fighting a war, the Taliban are waging a terror campaign against tribesmen who disagree with them. Many of the people in the tribal areas do not want to go to war with the government, especially in support of Islamic radicalism. The Taliban and al Qaeda have made themselves very unpopular in the tribal areas, because of attempts to impose lifestyle restrictions (no movies or TV, no pop music.) Most young tribesmen want their MP3s, and are willing to fight for them.