The number of terrorist attacks around the world fell by 18 per cent last year but rose dramatically in Pakistan, heightening in frequency and lethality, the State Department said Thursday.
The number of terrorist attacks around the world fell by 18 per cent last year but rose dramatically in Pakistan, heightening in frequency and lethality, the State Department said Thursday.
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The department's annual assessment of global terrorism said Al-Qaida and its affiliates continue to be the greatest terrorist threat to the United States despite ongoing efforts to disrupt their operations in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iraq, North Africa, Somalia and Yemen.
Terror attacks also rose in Afghanistan last year, the report said. Worldwide terrorist attacks dropped to 11,770 in 2008 from 14,506 in 2007. The number of deaths caused by those incidents declined 30 percent, from 22,508 in 2007 to 15,765 last year.
According to statistics compiled for the report by the National Counter-terrorism Center, 19 American civilians died in terror-related incidents last year compared to 33 the previous year.
Despite those positive signs, the rise of incidents in Pakistan, the report said, reflected increased "coordination, sophistication and frequency" of suicide and other bombings by the Taliban and Al-Qaida.
Attacks in Pakistan more than doubled between 2007 and 2008 to about 1,800 and have quadrupled since 2006.
Militants have expanded and consolidated their operations during that period, mainly along the northwest border with Afghanistan and in largely ungoverned tribal areas.
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