Terrorist attacks soar since 9/11, study finds
Source: Agencies |
December 5, 2012, Wednesday
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THE number of terrorist attacks each year has more than quadrupled in the decade since September 11, 2001, a study released yesterday said, with Iraq, Pakistan and Afghanistan the most affected.
The number of annual deaths in attacks, however, peaked in 2007 - the height of the Iraq conflict - and has been falling ever since. The survey reported 7,473 fatalities in 2011, 25 percent lower compare to 2007. That figure included dead suicide bombers and other attackers.
Iraq, Pakistan, Afghanistan, India and Yemen were the five countries most affected by terrorism in descending order, it said, based on a measure giving weightings to number of attacks, fatalities and injuries and level of property damage.
The Global Terrorism Index - published yesterday by the US- and Australia-based Institute for Economics and Peace think tank - ranked countries based on data from the Global Terrorism Database run by a consortium based at the University of Maryland, a commonly used reference by security researchers.
No proof US safer
The US military interventions pursued as part of the West's anti-al-Qaida "war on terror," the researchers suggested, may have simply made matters worse. Whether they made the US homeland safer was impossible to prove.
"After 9/11, terrorist activity fell back to pre-2000 levels until after the Iraq invasion, and has since escalated dramatically," said Steve Killelea, founder and executive chairman of the Institute for Economics and Peace.
"Iraq accounts for about a third of all terrorist deaths over the last decade, and Iraq, Pakistan and Afghanistan account for over 50 percent of fatalities."
The study says terrorism incidents numbered 982 in 2002, causing 3,823 deaths, rising to 4,564 terrorist incidents globally in 2011, resulting in 7,473 deaths.
The researchers used the University of Maryland definition of terrorism: "the threatened or actual use of illegal force and violence by a non-state actor to attain a political, economic, religious, or social goal through fear, coercion, or intimidation."
It did not include casualties from government-backed action such as aerial bombing or other killings.
The number of annual deaths in attacks, however, peaked in 2007 - the height of the Iraq conflict - and has been falling ever since. The survey reported 7,473 fatalities in 2011, 25 percent lower compare to 2007. That figure included dead suicide bombers and other attackers.
Iraq, Pakistan, Afghanistan, India and Yemen were the five countries most affected by terrorism in descending order, it said, based on a measure giving weightings to number of attacks, fatalities and injuries and level of property damage.
The Global Terrorism Index - published yesterday by the US- and Australia-based Institute for Economics and Peace think tank - ranked countries based on data from the Global Terrorism Database run by a consortium based at the University of Maryland, a commonly used reference by security researchers.
No proof US safer
The US military interventions pursued as part of the West's anti-al-Qaida "war on terror," the researchers suggested, may have simply made matters worse. Whether they made the US homeland safer was impossible to prove.
"After 9/11, terrorist activity fell back to pre-2000 levels until after the Iraq invasion, and has since escalated dramatically," said Steve Killelea, founder and executive chairman of the Institute for Economics and Peace.
"Iraq accounts for about a third of all terrorist deaths over the last decade, and Iraq, Pakistan and Afghanistan account for over 50 percent of fatalities."
The study says terrorism incidents numbered 982 in 2002, causing 3,823 deaths, rising to 4,564 terrorist incidents globally in 2011, resulting in 7,473 deaths.
The researchers used the University of Maryland definition of terrorism: "the threatened or actual use of illegal force and violence by a non-state actor to attain a political, economic, religious, or social goal through fear, coercion, or intimidation."
It did not include casualties from government-backed action such as aerial bombing or other killings.
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