Worldwide Terrorism Trends: The Global...
Transcript of Worldwide Terrorism Trends: The Global...
Worldwide Terrorism Trends:
The Global Terrorism Database
2013 Summit on the Global AgendaGAC Terrorism
Gary LaFreeNovember 18-20, 2013
National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism
DEFINITION OF TERRORISM
Acts by non-state actors involving the threatened or actual use of illegal force
or violence to attain a political, economic, religious, or social goal
through fear, coercion, or intimidation.
National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism
DEFINITION OF TERRORISM (CONT.)Mandatory inclusion criteria:
– The incident must be intentional – the result of a conscious calculation on the part of a perpetrator.
– The incident must entail some level of violence (includes property violence) or the threat of violence.
– There must be sub-national perpetrators
At least two of the following criteria must be met:1) The act must be aimed at attaining a political, economic, religious,
or social goal. In terms of economic goals, the exclusive pursuit of profit does not satisfy this criterion
2) There must be evidence of an intention to coerce, intimidate, or convey some other message to a larger audience (or audiences) than the immediate victims.
3) The action must be outside the context of legitimate warfare activities, i.e. the act must be outside the parameters permitted by international humanitarian law (particularly the admonition against deliberately targeting civilians or non-combatants).
15-25 graduate and under-
graduate interns review
articles and record
information on each attack
Principal Investigators and
Advisory Board guide data
collection strategy; manage
priorities and resources
Ten Researchers and
Research Assistants
coordinate data collection,
quality control projectsTEAM
USERS
DATA
Thousands of sources worldwide generate
over one million articles per day
Initial searches return ~50,000 articles per week
~7 percent are relevant to terrorist attacks
GTD staff identify hundreds of unique terrorist
attacks worldwide per month and record
120+ points of information about each one
Government agents use GTD data on a regular
basis and seek to partner with START. The majority
of the 200 people a month who download
GTD data are from government or
educational institutions.
Educators use GTD data to guide teaching and research. GTD data is
published in hundreds of academic papers and
articles, as well as used by teachers from more than 1,200 institutions
worldwide.
News media use the GTD in their reporting to inform the general
public. Information from the GTD is cited weekly
by international, national and local outlets, such as
NPR, Newsweek and Science.
National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism
Total Terrorist Attacks (1970 – 2013*)
0
2000
4000
6000
8000
10000
12000
# o
f A
ttac
ks
Year
Total Attacks (1970-2013*)
* Estimate based on the first six months of 2013 data (n=10,200).
National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism
Total Terrorist Fatalities, 1970-2012
National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism
Regional Terrorist Attacks by Decade
National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism
Terrorist Attacks and Casualties Worldwide by Month, 2012
Month Total Attacks Total Killed Total WoundedTotal Kidnapped/
Taken HostageJanuary 595 1378 1838 133
February 461 801 1620 135
March 515 789 1931 78
April 579 843 1416 188
May 684 873 2523 104
June 591 1189 2580 254
July 571 1010 1817 68
August 615 953 1498 92
September 520 877 1853 31
October 614 986 1656 102
November 570 794 1878 46
December 456 605 1042 52
Total 6771 11098 21652 1283
National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism
Worldwide Terrorist Casualties, 2012
National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism
TACTICS USED IN TERRORIST ATTACKS WORLDWIDE, 2012
National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism
TARGETS OF TERRORIST ATTACKS WORLDWIDE, 2012
Target Type Number of TargetsPrivate Citizens/Property 2073
Police 1699
Government (General) 971
Business 480
Military 379
Educational Institution 325
Unknown 285
Religious Figures/Institutions 223
Transportation 221
Utilities 177
Terrorists or Non-state Militia 144
Government (Diplomatic) 95
Journalists and Media 84
Violent Political Party 83
Other 78
Telecommunication 57
NGO 44
Airports & Airlines 20
Food or Water Supply 19
Tourists 10
Total 7467
National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism
TEN COUNTRIES WITH THE MOST TERRORIST ATTACKS, 2012
Country Total Attacks Total Killed Total WoundedAverage Number Killed per Attack
Average Number Wounded per
Attack
Pakistan 1404 1848 3643 1.32 2.59
Iraq 1271 2436 6641 1.92 5.23
Afghanistan 1023 2632 3715 2.57 3.63
India 557 231 559 0.41 1.00
Nigeria 546 1386 1019 2.54 1.87
Thailand 222 174 897 0.78 4.04
Yemen 203 365 427 1.80 2.10
Somalia 185 323 397 1.75 2.15
Philippines 141 109 270 0.77 1.91
Syria 133 657 1787 4.94 13.44
National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism
TEN PERPETRATOR GROUPS WITH THE MOST ATTACKS WORLDWIDE, 2012
Perpetrator Group Name Total Attacks Total KilledAverage Number Killed per Attack
Taliban 525 1842 3.51
Boko Haram 364 1132 3.11
Al-Qa’ida in Iraq (AQI)/Islamic State of Iraq (ISI) 249 892 3.58
Maoists (India)/ Communist Party of India-Maoist 204 131 0.64
Al-Shabaab 121 278 2.30
Al-Qa’ida in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) 108 282 2.61
Tehrik-e Taliban Pakistan (TTP) 103 510 4.95
Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) 80 83 1.04
Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) 71 122 1.72
Corsican National Liberation Front (FLNC) 58 0 0.00
National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism
Top 10 Perpetrator groups, attacksTop 10 Perpetrator Groups (1970-2011)
Rank Perpetrator Group Total Attacks
1 Shining Path (SL) 4518
2Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front (FMLN) 3351
3 Irish Republican Army (IRA) 2673
4Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) 2045
5 Taliban 2030
6Basque Fatherland and Freedom (ETA) 2027
7Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) 1606
8Communist Party of India - Maoist (CPI-M) 1416
9 New People's Army (NPA) 1335
10National Liberation Army of Colombia (ELN) 1292
Top 10 Perpetrator Groups (2012)
Rank Perpetrator Group Total Attacks
1 Taliban 725
2 Boko Haram 401
3 Al-Qa`ida in Iraq 229
4 Al-Shabaab 225
5Al-Qa`ida in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) 195
6 Maoists 194
7 Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) 154
8 Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) 133
9Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) 83
10 New People's Army (NPA) 78
National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism
Top 10 perpetrator groups, fatalitiesTop 10 Perpetrator Groups (1970-2011)
Rank Perpetrator GroupTotal
Fatalities
1 Shining Path (SL) 11570
2Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam(LTTE) 10946
3Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front (FMLN) 8065
4 Nicaraguan Democratic Force (FDN) 6662
5 Taliban 5770
6Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) 5240
7 Hutus 4083
8 Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) 3602
9 Al-Qa`ida 3594
10 New People's Army (NPA) 3438
Top 10 Perpetrator Groups (2012)
Rank Perpetrator GroupTotal
Fatalities
1 Taliban 2303.25
2 Boko Haram 1231.6
3 Al-Qa`ida in Iraq 1000.16
4 Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) 942
5Al-Qa`ida in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) 889
6 Al-Shabaab 697
7 Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) 226
8Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) 156
9 M23 153
10 Maoists 133
National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism
www.start.umd.edu/[email protected]@umd.edu
Thanks!