April 28, 2005
Bloomberg
An increasing number of terrorist groups are seeking weapons of mass destruction, the U.S. State Department said yesterday in a report on global terrorism.
``Although al-Qaeda remains the primary concern regarding possible WMD threats, the number of groups expressing interest in such material is increasing, and WMD technology and know-how is proliferating in the jihadist community,'' the report said.
The annual report included an overview of terrorist attacks worldwide in 2004. The report found that although there were military campaigns against insurgents and terrorists in Iraq and Afghanistan, improvements in homeland security and deepening counterterrorism cooperation worldwide, ``international terrorism continued to pose a significant threat to the United States and its partners in 2004.''
Among the new challenges, according to the report, are efforts by al-Qaeda leaders to inspire ``new groups of Sunni Muslim extremists to undertake violent acts in the name of jihad.''
On the same day the State Department released its ``Country Reports on Terrorism 2004'' compilation, the National Counterterrorism Center made public figures on the number of victims and attacks last year.
Last year there were 651 significant international terrorist attacks worldwide, resulting in 1,907 killed and 6,704 wounded. That compares to 175 incidents in 2003.
Better Accounting
Officials attributed the growth in the number of incidents to an increased number of civilians targeted in Iraq, as well as better accounting. Ten full-time analysts this year compiled data on incidents as opposed to three part-time staffers the previous year. The number of terrorist incidents in Iraq logged in 2004 was tenfold that of 2003, increasing from 22 to 201.
``This increased level of effort allowed a much deeper review of far more information and, along with Iraq, are the primary reasons for the significant growth in the number of terrorist incidents being reported,'' said John Brennan, acting director of the National Counterterrorism Center. The center was created in December to serve as the main data base of information on terrorism for the U.S. government.
He said the 2003 and 2004 figures could not be compared in ``any meaningful way.''
More Attacks
Last year the State Department erroneously claimed that 2003 had the ``lowest annual total of international terrorist attacks since 1969.'' The number of attacks had actually risen, and the State Department was forced to release a corrected version.
Brennan said a review of past accounting also ``highlighted methodological shortcomings,'' and said new comprehensive figures would be released in June.
Among the problems, he said, was that to be counted under the congressional definition of international terrorism, the incident must involve citizens of more than one country.
Officials cited the example of the twin bombings by Chechen suicide bombers of Russian jets last August. One flight is included in the total number of incidents because an Israeli was among the dead, while the rest of the victims were Russian citizens. The other flight was not counted because all on board were Russian.
To contact the reporter on this story:
Janine Zacharia in Washington at jzacharia@bloomberg.net.
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