Afghanistan Times
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AT Monitoring Desk
KABUL: The Taliban was the world’s “deadliest terrorist
group” last year, according to a new survey, amid a rise in terrorist activity
in Afghanistan and the winding down of conflicts in Syria and Iraq.
The 2019 Global Terrorism Index, published on November 20 by the Sydney-based
Institute for Economics and Peace, shows that the number of deaths attributed
to the Taliban rose by nearly 71 percent in 2018 to 6,103, and accounted for 38
percent of all terror-related deaths globally.
The Taliban overtook Islamic State as the deadliest terrorist group, with
deaths attributed to IS falling by almost 70 percent, to 1,328.
Overall, the number of global deaths from terrorism fell more than 15 percent
to 15,952 in 2018, the report says.
The number has more than halved from a high of 33,555 deaths in 2014, according
to the index.
The largest decline was recorded in Iraq, which for the first time since 2003
was not the country worst-hit by terrorism.
Iraq, which proclaimed a military victory over IS fighters in 2017, was the
second most-affected country in 2018, followed by Nigeria and Syria.
The index noted that an overwhelming majority of terror attacks took place in
countries involved in violent conflict.
However, the number of deaths caused by far-right terrorism in Western Europe,
North America, and Oceania, has grown by 320 percent between 2014 and 2018.
