US terror report: Deaths from terror attacks increased 81% in 2014

The rise of Daesh and the Nigerian terror group Boko Haram were responsible for an 81 percent increase in global terrorism last year, The Telegraph quoted a report by the US State Department on Saturday.

The sharp increase in the number of people killed by terror attacks worldwide last year included a tenfold increase in mass casualty attacks, according to the annual report on global terrorism which found terror attacks claimed 33,000 lives in 2014, compared to 18,000 in 2013.

Twenty separate attacks killed at least 100 people last year, compared with just two such events in 2013.

The spike was due in large part to the rise of Daesh and Boko Haram. The state department said those groups were acting with almost unprecedented “savagery”.

The most deadly terrorist attack last year was Daesh’s assault on a prison in Mosul, Iraq, in which 670 Shia prisoners were killed.

The countries in which terror most intensified last year included Iraq, Syria, Yemen, Libya and Nigeria. Lone wolf attacks in the West were also listed as a major concern.

In additional to fatal attacks, three times as many people were kidnapped by terrorist groups in 2014 than in 2013.

The Obama administration pushed back against the narrative that the increase in attacks reflects an inability of America and its allies to combat terrorism, insisting “the numbers don’t tell the whole story”.

Tina Kaidanow, counterterrorism coordinator, cited successes in the fight against al-Qaeda, and a “momentum” in global efforts to make it more difficult for terrorists to travel internationally.

The administration was drawing fire on Friday, however, over the finding that Iran’s sponsorship of terrorist groups continued unimpeded despite the trust being shown in Iran by the West during the negotiations over its nuclear programme.

“They’re still doing it [sponsoring terror], and we’re still concerned,” Kaidanow said.

The report also commended Britain for its efforts to fight terrorism, though it noted the persistent threat posed by foreign fighters travelling to the Middle East from the UK.

The total number of terrorist attacks carried out was 13,500 last year compared with fewer than 10,000 in 2013.