Sharp rise in global terror attacks in 2014 (US report)

The number of global terror attacks and casualties increased between 2013 and 2014, according to a new report by the US State Department.

The figures contained in the department's annual global terrorism report released on Friday say that nearly 33,000 people were killed in almost 13,500 attacks around the world in 2014.

That's up from just over 18,000 deaths in nearly 10,000 attacks in 2013, it said. Twenty-four Americans were among those killed in 2014, the report said. Abductions soared from 3,137 in 2013 to 9,428 in 2014, the report said.

Attacks largely at the hands of the Islamic State of Iraq and Levant (ISIL) group and Boko Haram raised the number of terror acts by more than a third, nearly doubled the number of deaths and nearly tripled the number of kidnappings.

The report attributes the rise in attacks to increased terror activity in Iraq, Afghanistan and Nigeria and the sharp spike in deaths to a growth in exceptionally lethal attacks in those countries and elsewhere.

There were 20 attacks that killed more than 100 people each in 2014, compared to just two in 2013, according to the figures...
 AP
 aljazeera.com
20/6/15