Making it the world’s deadliest terrorist group, causing 6,644 deaths. In comparison, IS is believed to have killed 6,073 people in the same period. Over the past year Nigerian witnessed a 300 per cent rise in fatalities from terror acts to 7,512.
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A total of 32,658 people were killed by terrorists around the world in 2014 – an 80% increase on the previous year, according to the Global Terrorism Index.
“Terrorism is gaining momentum at an unprecedented pace”, said Steve Killelea, the executive chairman of the Institute of Economics and Peace, which produces the study.
The United Kingdom recorded the highest number of terrorist incidents of Western countries with 102 past year, although they did not result in any deaths.
A terrifying new study reveals the number of deaths at the hands of terrorists worldwide is at an all-time high. The report finds that 92 per cent of all terrorist attacks between 1989 and 2014 occurred in countries where political violence by the government was widespread, while 88 per centof all terrorist attacks between 1989 and 2014 occurred in countries that were experiencing or involved in violent conflicts.
“What is most striking from our analysis is how the drivers of terrorism differ between more and less developed countries”, Killelea said.
Iraq is still the country most affected by terrorism with about 9,000 casualties, the highest ever recorded in a single country. In the West the youth unemployment, drug crime and other such socio-economic factors correlate to it. “Current estimates now range from 25,000 to 30,000 fighters, from roughly 100 countries”, the report said.
Meanwhile Britain provided the fourth highest number of foreign fighters from countries where Muslims are not the majority, with about 600 arriving in Iraq and Syria since 2011, it added.
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Five nations – Afghanistan, Iraq, Nigeria, Pakistan and Syria – bore the brunt of the attacks, suffering 78 per cent of the deaths recorded. “This includes reducing state-sponsored violence, diffusing group grievances, and improving respect for human rights and religious freedoms, while considering cultural nuances”, he said. Further, in the West 70% of all deaths were caused by “lone wolf” attackers, in which 80% of the deaths were caused by political extremists, nationalists, racial and religious supremacists, the report said.
