TerrorismMost of 2013 terrorist attacks took place in only a few countries

The majority of terrorist attacks occurring in 2013 remained isolated in just a few countries, according to the Global Terrorism Database (GTD), which is generated by the National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism (START) based at the University of Maryland. With the addition of nearly 12,000 terrorist attacks in 2013, the database now includes more than 125,000 events dating back to 1970 and, according to START, it remains the most comprehensive unclassified database of terrorist attacks around the world.

2013 terrorist attacks
START says that in 2013, 11,952 terrorist attacks resulted in 22,178 fatalities (including perpetrator deaths) and 37,529 injuries across 91 countries. More than half of all attacks (54 percent), fatalities (61 percent), and injuries (69 percent) occurred in just three countries: Iraq, Pakistan, and Afghanistan.

By wide margins, the highest number of fatalities (7,046), attacks (2,852) and injuries (15,736) took place in Iraq. The average lethality of attacks in Iraq was 34 percent higher than the global average and 30 percent higher than the 2012 average in Iraq.

“It is important to note that increases in terrorism in 2013 were geographically concentrated in many of the same places which saw high levels of political violence in 2012,” said Gary LaFree, START director and professor of Criminology and Criminal Justice. “The list of countries that experienced the most attacks remained virtually unchanged over the past two years-terrorism is generally getting worse in the places where it has been bad for several years.”

While terrorism remained heavily concentrated in the same parts of the world, the countries within those regions experienced some notable changes. In 2013, total attacks increased for Iraq, Pakistan, the Philippines, Syria, Egypt, Libya, and Lebanon; and decreased for Nigeria and Turkey. The most lethal single attack in 2013 took place in September in Nigeria when members of Boko Haram set up illegal checkpoints and killed 142 civilians.

10 countries with the most terrorist attacks in 2013