PakistanBodyCount Wins at PASHA Awards 2011 (Oct 06, 2011)

Some of the most creative minds from ICT industries and academia participate in the PASHA ICT awards. The PASHA ICT awards are widely regarded as the IT Oscars of Pakistan. This year, the award ceremony was held in Karachi and boasted of the who's who of the IT world in Pakistan.

Pakistan Body Count was awarded the Runner Up prize in the Digital Media & Entertainment Applications Category. Pakistan Body Count is an accurate, regularly updated database that not only keeps an account of the casualties and injuries from suicide bombings and drone attacks, but also presents data in understandable way using grids and graphical forms. The website is a resource for every student, news agency, publication, security and defense agency, analyst and every citizen who can use the data to remain aware and make informed decisions. readmore

Covert Drone War (Jul 27, 2011)

The Bureau of Investigative Journalism has embarked on a detailed study of civilian deaths caused by CIA drone strikes in Pakistan. Our analysis comes less than a month after President Obama’s chief counter-terrorism adviser John Brennan publicly stated: ‘…that nearly for the past year there hasn’t been a single collateral death because of the exceptional proficiency, precision of the capabilities that we’ve been able to develop’. readmore

US claims of ‘no civilian deaths’ are untrue (Jul 18, 2011)

Claims by President Obama’s chief counter-terrorism adviser John Brennan that ‘there hasn’t been a single collateral [civilian] death’ in Pakistan since August 2010 are found to be untrue today, following a major Bureau investigation.According to Brennan, Barack Obama himself has ‘insisted’ that US drone strikes are ‘exceptionally surgical and precise’ and ‘do not put… innocent men, women and children in danger’. readmore

Drone attacks hit all-time high (Sep 27, 2010)

According to researcher Dr Zeeshanul Hasan Usmani, who monitors drone and suicide attacks in the country, there have been a total of 198 drone attacks since the first hit on June 18, 2004 in South Waziristan Agency. The attack killed five people, including Taliban commander Nek Mohmmad. More than 2,100 people have been killed so far, including 36 high-profile militants, he said. Since US President Barack Obama came into office, there have been 143 drone attacks, with about 58 strikes in 2009 (after January 20) and 85 in 2010. readmore

Tribune’s Story on Learning from Suicide Blasts (Jul 26, 2010)

Zeeshan-ul-Hassan Usmani, who currently teaches at the Ghulam Ishaq Khan Institute of Engineering Sciences and Technology in Topi, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, completed his PhD in computer science from the US-based Florida Institute of Technology where he went to study on a Fulbright scholarship. His PhD topic, “Modelling and Simulation of Explosion Effectiveness as a Function of Blast and Crowd Characteristics,” was inspired by a desire to save lives, Usmani says. The software Usmani has developed can simulate suicide bomb explosions in three dimensions. The computer programme has wide-ranging applications, including blast forensics and post-disaster management. readmore

Using Science Against Suicide Bombs (Jun 19, 2010)

LAHORE, Pakistan—A U.S.-educated Fulbright scholar is giving the government some special advice in building a software park intended to help turn this city into a regional tech hub: how to defend it from suicide bombers, in a sign of how everyday life in Pakistan is shaping itself around an ongoing threat. readmore

AOL News Story on Pakistan Body Count (May 19, 2010)

(May 19) -- When it comes to measuring casualties and death rates, Pakistani computer scientist Zeeshan-ul-hassan Usmani is a world-class expert. His Ph.D. thesis looked at complex simulations calculating blast waves from suicide bombings, with an eye toward preventing mass casualties from such attacks. readmore

Wired Magazine Story on Paksitan Body Count (May 18, 2010)

Both Pakistan Body Count, run by computer science professor Zeeshan-ul-hassan Usmani, and the Long War Journal, operated by former G.I. Bill Roggio, rely on the same data: local news accounts. But the two sites use startlingly different methodologies to reach their results. Roggio only counts civilian deaths if they’re specifically mentioned in the news stories. Usmani figures that all reported “Taliban” are, in fact, civilians. It’s a questionable assumption, all-but-discounting the possibility of drones hitting home-grown militants. Nevertheless, the site provides a look at how the U.S. drone strikes are perceived in the country where the Hellfire missiles land. readmore