Violence on the rise globally - US country report

More than 6,771 terrorist attacks that occurred globally in 2012 have caused more than 11,000 deaths and more than 21,600 injuries, states the US country reports 2012 that was issued last Friday by the US State Department. In addition, more than 1,280 people were kidnapped or taken hostage.

Each attack on an average has caused 1.64 fatalities and 3.2 injuries, including perpetrator casualties, according to the report.

In January last year 1,378 people were killed in terrorist attacks which is recorded as the highest. According to the analysis in the report this is due to the large part to terrorist violence in Iraq (425 deaths) and Nigeria (348 deaths). The increase in terrorist violence from February through June includes the onset of spring "fighting season" in Afghanistan, where there was a 153 percent increase in attacks and a 158 percent increase in fatalities.

Analysing the statistics the report states that half of all targets (50.5%) were classified as either private citizens and property or police. Though such attacks occurred globally, they were particularly prevalent in Iraq, where 27.1 percent of attacks against private citizens and 24.3 percent of attacks against police have taken place.

The most lethal terrorist attacks in 2012 have been those in which the primary target had been a religious institution. On average, these attacks have resulted in 2.56 deaths per attack.

Diplomatic targets were attacked 95 times in 2012 out of which more than one-third of all diplomatic targets were either UN officials or facilities. .

-DY