Title 22, Section 2656f of the United States Code requires the Department of State to include in its annual report on terrorism “to the extent practicable, complete statistical information on the number of individuals, including United States citizens and dual nationals, killed, injured, or kidnapped by each terrorist group during the preceding calendar year.” The definition found in Title 22 of the U.S. Code provides that terrorism is “premeditated, politically motivated violence perpetrated against noncombatant targets by subnational groups or clandestine agents.” From 2004 to 2011, the data for the Annex of Statistical Information were collected by the National Counterterrorism Center, part of the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, through the Worldwide Incidents Tracking System (WITS).
Beginning in June 2012, the National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism (START) contracted with the U.S. Department of State to collect a Statistical Annex dataset and provide a report to include in the State Department’s annual Country Reports on Terrorism. Since 2001, START has maintained the Global Terrorism Database (GTD), an unclassified event database compiled from information in open-source reports of terrorist attacks. The first version of the GTD was released in 2006 and included information on worldwide terrorism from 1970 to 1997. START routinely updates and improves the accuracy of the data. The full GTD (1970-2017) and accompanying documentation are available to the public at www.start.umd.edu/gtd. The GTD staff compiled the Statistical Annex dataset to include violent acts carried out by non-state actors that meet all of the GTD inclusion criteria:
- The violent act was aimed at attaining a political, economic, religious, or social goal;
- The violent act included evidence of an intention to coerce, intimidate, or convey some other message to a larger audience (or audiences) other than the immediate victims; and
- The violent act was outside the precepts of International Humanitarian Law insofar as it targeted non-combatants.
Readers familiar with the GTD will note that inclusion in the GTD proper, from which the Statistical Annex data set was derived, requires that an event meet at least two out of the three inclusion criteria above. In consultation with the U.S. Department of State, START determined that it was appropriate to include in the Statistical Annex dataset only those events for which all three criteria were met in order to adhere to the definition established in the U.S. Code. In addition, the Statistical Annex dataset excludes any events in the GTD for which there was considerable uncertainty or conflicting reports regarding the inclusion criteria.
The GTD research staff continually evaluates and enhances the methodology to promote comprehensive, accurate, and systematic data collection. In particular, in 2012 START developed data collection tools that expand the number of sources available for analysis and automate the selection of potentially relevant articles from which GTD staff identify unique attacks and record their specific details.
Due to the evolution in data collection methodology with respect to both WITS and prior versions of the GTD it is important to note that the data presented here are not directly comparable with data from either of these sources prior to 2012. In general, comparisons of aggregate statistics over time and between locations should be interpreted with caution due to considerable variation in the availability of source materials.
This Annex of Statistical Information is a guide to worldwide terrorist activity as reported by unclassified sources. These data represent START’s best efforts to report the most comprehensive, valid information on terrorism, based on the availability of open-source data and resources. We hope that these data will be useful for improving knowledge about patterns and characteristics of terrorism, and helpful for maintaining global awareness of the threat it poses.
The Annex of Statistical Information is provided for statistical purposes only. The statistical information contained in the Annex is based on reports from a variety of open sources that may be of varying credibility. Nothing in this report should be construed as a determination that individuals associated with the underlying incidents are guilty of terrorism or any other criminal offense. As with all records in the GTD, the information may be modified, as necessary and appropriate, if new information becomes available.
Any assessments and descriptions, including those regarding the nature of the incidents or the factual circumstances thereof, are offered only as part of the analytic work product of the National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism (START) and may not reflect the views of the United States Government.
SIGNIFICANT Trends
- The total number of terrorist attacks worldwide in 2017 decreased by 23 percent and total deaths due to terrorist attacks decreased by 27 percent, compared to 2016. While numerous countries saw a decline in terrorist violence between 2016 and 2017, this overall trend was largely due to dramatically fewer attacks and deaths in Iraq. Twenty-four percent of all deaths in terrorist attacks in 2017 were perpetrator deaths, down from 26 percent in 2016. This statistic was historically much lower but began to increase in the 2000s, largely due to shifting tactics in Afghanistan and, to a lesser extent, in Iraq in the 2010s.
- In several countries, including Kenya, Somalia, and the United Kingdom, the number of terrorist attacks and total deaths increased in 2017.
- Although terrorist attacks took place in 100 countries in 2017, they were concentrated geographically. Fifty-nine percent of all attacks took place in five countries (Afghanistan, India, Iraq, Pakistan, and the Philippines), and 70 percent of all deaths due to terrorist attacks took place in five countries (Afghanistan, Iraq, Nigeria, Somalia, and Syria).
- The Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) was responsible for more attacks and deaths than any other perpetrator group in 2017. However, ISIS carried out 23 percent fewer terrorist attacks and caused 53 percent fewer total deaths, compared to 2016. ISIS and groups that have pledged allegiance to ISIS carried out attacks in more than 20 countries in 2017. The most active ISIS affiliates were located in Afghanistan/Pakistan, Egypt, and West Africa.
- The number of kidnapping victims and hostages declined 43 percent between 2016 and 2017, a notable shift from previous years which saw sharp increases in the number of kidnapping victims and hostages, primarily due to attacks involving exceptionally large numbers of victims.
INCIDENTS OF TERRORISM WORLDWIDE
In 2017, a total of 8,584 terrorist attacks occurred worldwide, resulting in more than 18,700 deaths and more than 19,400 people injured. These casualty figures include more than 4,400 perpetrator deaths and 1,400 perpetrator injuries. The prevalence of perpetrator deaths and injuries was historically much lower but began to increase in the 2000s, largely due to shifting tactics in Afghanistan and, to a lesser extent, in Iraq in the 2010s. In addition, more than 8,900 people were kidnapped or taken hostage. In this report we describe patterns of worldwide terrorist activity with respect to changes during the year, geographic concentration, casualties, perpetrator organizations, tactics, weapons, and targets.
Table 1: Terrorist attacks and casualties worldwide by month, 2017
Mount | Total Attacks | Total Deaths* | Total Injuried* | Kidnapped |
January | 688 | 1348 | 1610 | 210 |
February | 689 | 1210 | 1621 | 711 |
March | 782 | 1780 | 1770 | 1042 |
April | 671 | 1387 | 1232 | 355 |
May | 845 | 2300 | 2303 | 1463 |
June | 879 | 2057 | 1955 | 1382 |
July | 749 | 1447 | 1436 | 717 |
August | 757 | 1628 | 1936 | 695 |
September | 668 | 1154 | 1283 | 310 |
October | 632 | 1914 | 1716 | 342 |
November | 647 | 1491 | 1472 | 1487 |
December | 577 | 1037 | 1127 | 223 |
TOTAL | 8584 | 18753 | 19461 | 8937 |
*Includes perpetrators
- On average, there were 715 terrorist attacks, causing 1,563 deaths, injuring 1,623 people, and involving 745 hostages or kidnap victims per month, worldwide in 2017. There were 2.3 deaths and 2.5 people injured per attack, including perpetrator casualties.
- Shown in Table 1, terrorist violence peaked in May and June 2017 with more than 800 attacks worldwide each month and more than 4,000 casualties (people killed or injured) each month. This pattern is largely a result of trends in Afghanistan and Iraq, where more than one-third (36%) of all terrorist attacks and nearly half (47%) of all deaths from terrorist attacks took place in 2017
- In Afghanistan, the number of attacks increased 69 percent, from 68 attacks in April to 115 attacks in May. Likewise, the total number of people killed or injured in terrorist attacks in Afghanistan during this time increased 344 percent, from 331 to 1,468.
- In Iraq there was a particularly sharp increase in violence in June, when the number of attacks increased 26 percent to 234, from 186 in May. The total number of people killed or injured increased 54 percent from 883 in May to 1,363 in June.
- Of the 18,753 people killed in terrorist attacks in 2017, 4,430 (24%) were perpetrators of the attacks. Perpetrators killed themselves intentionally in suicide attacks, unintentionally while attempting to carry out attacks, or they were killed by security forces or victims responding to attacks. This is a 34 percent decrease in the number of perpetrator deaths, compared to 2016.
- Shown in in Figure 1, the global trends in terrorist attacks observed in 2017 are the continuation of an overall pattern of decline that began in 2014 following a rapid increase in terrorist violence. This rapid increase was largely the result of violence carried out by ISIS and allied groups including Boko Haram in Nigeria, as well as the Taliban in Afghanistan. Likewise, the subsequent decline was primarily the product of decreasing levels of violence by these same groups. Despite these patterns, these groups remained several of the deadliest terrorist groups in the world in 2017.
LOCATION
Terrorist attacks took place in 100 countries in 2017; however, they were heavily concentrated geographically. Fifty-nine percent of all attacks took place in five countries (Afghanistan, India, Iraq, Pakistan, and the Philippines), and 70 percent of all deaths due to terrorist attacks took place in five countries (Afghanistan, Iraq, Nigeria, Somalia, and Syria).
Consistent with START’s practice of including in the GTD only those attacks that have been reported by at least one high-validity source, these statistics represent those incidents that were reported by independent news outlets. Given the particular limitations of unbiased media coverage in Syria and Yemen, the data presented here provide conservative estimates of terrorism in these locations.
Globally aggregated statistics do not represent uniform patterns worldwide. They are produced by diverse trends in violence and heavily influenced by developments in several key locations. The statistical profiles in Table 2 illustrate many of these dynamics. Note that the statistics from 2016 were revised as new information became available.
Table 2: Ten countries with the most terrorist attacks, 2017
Country | Total Attacks 2017/2018 | Total Deaths* 2017/2018 | Total Injuried* 2017/2018 | Kidnapped 2017/2018 |
Iraq | 1951/2969 | 4269/9782 | 4077/13317 | 1960/8598 |
Afghanistan | 1171/1343 | 4672/4578 | 5023/5057 | 835/1694 |
India | 860/931 | 380/344 | 601/636 | 224/317 |
Pakistan | 574/739 | 851/957 | 1827/1729 | 106/452 |
Philippines | 483/484 | 327/272 | 298/416 | 408/218 |
Nigeria | 411/467 | 1532/1832 | 852/919 | 245/265 |
Somalia | 370/367 | 1469/735 | 1093/943 | 286/391 |
Nepal | 247/43 | 4/5 | 94/15 | 10/1 |
Egypt | 169/262 | 655/293 | 481/376 | 37/27 |
Syria | 141/365 | 1096/2119 | 1055/2726 | 267/1406 |
Worldwide | 8584/11150 | 18753/25722 | 19461/33932 | 8937/15664 |
*Includes perpetrators
Two countries listed in Table 2 were not among the 10 countries where the most deaths from terrorist attacks occurred in 2017. These include the Philippines (ranked 12th in terms of total deaths) and Nepal (ranked 52nd in terms of total deaths). Likewise, two countries were not ranked in Table 2 among those with the most attacks, but were among the 10 where the most deaths occurred in 2017. These include the Democratic Republic of the Congo (ranked 16th in terms of total attacks and 8th in terms of total deaths) and Central African Republic (ranked 27th in terms of total attacks and 9th in terms of total deaths).
- Attacks
- Overall, global patterns resulted in a 23 percent decrease in terrorist attacks worldwide between 2016 and 2017.
- Many countries that have routinely experienced large numbers of terrorist attacks in recent years observed considerable decreases in total attacks in 2017, compared to 2016. Most notably, this includes Iraq, which experienced more terrorist attacks than any other country each year since 2013. There were 1,951 terrorist attacks in Iraq in 2017. While this number was exceptionally high in comparison to other countries, it represents a 34 percent decrease from 2,969 attacks in Iraq in 2016.
- Other countries that saw especially sharp declines between 2016 and 2017 include Turkey (-71%), Yemen (-62%), and Syria (-61%). Note that each of these locations suffers from deteriorating conditions for independent free press, so these trends should be interpreted with caution.
- Several countries that were not among those with the most attacks nonetheless saw considerable increases in 2017, including Sri Lanka (+3,900% from one attack in 2016 to 40 in 2017) and Nepal (+474% from 43 attacks in 2016 to 247 attacks in 2017). In both of these locations terrorist violence was almost entirely limited to non-lethal attacks. In addition, in 2017 the number of terrorist attacks increased in Kenya (+68%) and France (+59%), for example.
- Deaths
- In several of the locations that experienced the most terrorism in 2017, a decrease in terrorist attacks coincided with a decrease in the total number of people killed in terrorist attacks. These countries include Iraq (-56%), Syria (-48%), Nigeria, (-16%), and Pakistan (-11%).
- Certain countries saw sharp increases in the number of total deaths due to terrorist attacks in 2017.
- This includes several locations where terrorist violence has been especially deadly in recent years, such as Egypt (+124%), Somalia (+100%), and the Philippines (+20%).
- It also includes several locations where the number of people killed in terrorist attacks had been relatively low in 2016, such as the United Kingdom (+356%, from nine people killed in 2016 to 41 people killed in 2017), and Iran (+289%, from nine people killed in 2016 to 35 people killed in 2017).
- In 2017, 24 percent of all deaths from terrorist attacks worldwide were perpetrator deaths, down from 26 percent in 2016; however, the prevalence of perpetrator deaths varied geographically.
- The percentage of people killed in terrorist attacks who were carrying out the attack was highest in the West Bank and Gaza (62%; 21 of 34 total deaths) and Afghanistan (46%; 2,142 of 4,672 total deaths).
- In contrast, perpetrator deaths were relatively uncommon for terrorist attacks in Colombia (0%; 0 of 44 total deaths), Sudan (0%; 0 of 96 total deaths), Libya (3%; eight of 233 total deaths), and Thailand (3%; one of 40 total deaths).
- Although Afghanistan experienced a 13 percent decrease in terrorist attacks in 2017, these attacks remained very deadly and the total number of people killed in terrorist attacks in Afghanistan increased 2 percent in 2017, as the percentage of perpetrators killed in terrorist attacks decreased to 46 percent from 51 percent in 2016.
- In Iraq, after the number of perpetrators killed in terrorist attacks increased 79 percent between 2015 and 2016, perpetrator deaths decreased 61 percent between 2016 and 2017.
- Injuries
- The total number of people injured due to terrorist attacks worldwide declined 43 percent in 2017. However, this global statistic obscures a great deal of regional variation. For example, Turkey (-91%), Libya (-75%), and Iraq (-69%) saw particularly large decreases in the number of people injured in 2017.
- By contrast, there were large increases in the total number of people injured due to terrorist attacks in Spain (+2,675%; from four in 2016 to 111 in 2017) and the United Kingdom (+1,572%; from 18 in 2016 to 301 in 2017).
- Kidnapping Victims and Hostages
- Following several years of sharp increases in the number of people held hostage or kidnapped in terrorist attacks, there was a 43 percent decline worldwide between 2016 and 2017.
- In 2016, there were three countries in which more than 1,000 people were kidnapped or taken hostage: Iraq (8,598 victims), Afghanistan (1,694 victims), and Syria (1,406 victims). Each of these locations saw a steep decline in the number of people kidnapped or taken hostage in terrorist attacks in 2017.
- In Iraq and Syria – where there were especially rapid increases in mass-casualty hostage-taking events coinciding with the expansion of ISIS in recent years – the number of hostages declined 78 percent between 2016 and 2017.
- In Afghanistan, there was a 51 percent decline in the number of people taken hostage or kidnapped in terrorist attacks between 2016 and 2017.
- Despite these dramatic declines in key locations, other countries saw sharp increases in the number of people held hostage or kidnapped in terrorist attacks in 2017.
- For example, in Indonesia at least 1,300 were held hostage in two terrorist attacks targeting villages in Papua in November 2017, compared to two victims in 2016.
- Likewise, in Central African Republic there were at least 1,050 people taken hostage in terrorist attacks in 2017, including approximately 1,000 people held hostage for two days in May during an attack targeting Muslim civilians and a United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in the Central African Republic (MINUSCA) base. This represents a 1,054 percent increase in the number of people taken hostage or kidnapped, compared to 2016.
- Other countries that saw sharp increases in the number of people held hostage or kidnapped include Democratic Republic of the Congo (+51%; from 379 victims in 2016 to 574 victims in 2017), Myanmar (+1,648%; from 27 victims in 2016 to 472 victims in 2017), and the Philippines (+87%; from 218 in 2016 to 408 in 2017). In Venezuela, more than 300 people were held hostage during a terrorist attack on the National Assembly building in July 2017.
COUNTRY PROFILES
Iraq
- By a wide margin, more terrorist attacks took place in Iraq than in any other country in 2017. However, as terrorist violence decreased in Iraq in 2017 the number of people killed in terrorist attacks was less than one-half what it was in 2016 and the number of people injured was less than one-third what it was in 2016. As a result of these declines, Afghanistan surpassed Iraq as the country with the most casualties due to terrorist attacks in 2017.
- Perpetrator deaths comprised 23 percent of all deaths due to terrorist attacks in Iraq in 2017, down from 25 percent as the number of perpetrators killed in terrorist attacks declined from more than 2,400 in 2016 to fewer than 1,000 in 2017.
- ISIS remained the primary perpetrator of terrorist attacks in Iraq in 2017. For 60 percent of attacks in Iraq, source materials did not attribute responsibility to a particular perpetrator group or organization; however, ISIS was identified as the perpetrator in 97 percent of the remaining attacks for which a perpetrator organization was named. The number of attacks ISIS carried out in Iraq decreased from 946 in 2016 to 762 in 2017 (-24%).
- The total number of people killed in terrorist attacks in Iraq decreased 56 percent in 2017, due in large part to a decrease in exceptionally lethal attacks. In 2016, more than 9,700 people were killed in terrorist attacks in Iraq, including more than 2,700 killed in 22 attacks that killed 50 people or more. Four of these attacks killed 250 people or more. In contrast, there were five terrorist attacks in 2017 that killed 50 people or more, none of which killed 250 people or more.
- Four of the 20 deadliest individual attacks in 2017 took place in Iraq, compared to 12 in 2016, two in 2015 and four in 2014. Each of these attacks resulted in at least 100 total deaths. The deadliest attack in Iraq in 2017 took place in March when ISIS assailants positioned explosives-laden vehicles around a residential building in Mosul where they held residents hostage. An airstrike targeting the militants detonated the explosives, which collapsed the building killing more than 230 civilians.
- In 2017, terrorism in Iraq continued to be marked by deadly coordinated attacks. On 42 occasions during the year, there were more than 10 attacks on a single day within a particular country. Of these, nearly two-thirds (64%) took place in Iraq. Likewise, there were 54 occasions in 2017 when more than 50 people were killed in terrorist attacks on one day in a particular country. Fifteen of these highly lethal days occurred in Iraq.
- More than 1,500 attacks – the vast majority of all attacks in Iraq (85%) in 2017 – were classified as bombings. An additional six percent were armed assaults, six percent were kidnappings, two percent were assassinations, and one percent were facility attacks. Overall, 11 percent of all attacks were suicide attacks. These trends are generally very consistent with patterns of tactics in 2016.
- Iraq was one of three countries, along with India and Afghanistan, in which more than 100 terrorist attacks involved victims taken hostage in 2017. The percentage of attacks involving people kidnapped or taken hostage in Iraq (5%) remained stable. However, due to the exceptionally frequent occurrence of bombing attacks involving no hostages in Iraq, the percentage of attacks involving people kidnapped or taken hostage in Iraq was half that of the global percentage (11%) in 2017.
- More than 1,900 people were kidnapped or taken hostage in terrorist attacks in Iraq in 2017, a 77 percent decline, down from 8,500 people in 2016. In 2016, there were six terrorist attacks in which more than 200 people were kidnapped or taken hostage, including two attacks in which more than 1,000 fleeing civilians were kidnapped. In 2017, there were three attacks in which more than 200 people were held hostage, including the deadly March hostage-barricade attack in Mosul described above, and two others in February and June, in which hundreds of people were kidnapped in Kirkuk.
- In 2017, the most common types of targets in Iraq were private citizens and property (58%), businesses (14%), and police (11%). While the number of attacks overall in Iraq decreased in 2017 compared to 2016, the number of attacks targeting police, educational institutions (1%), and journalists (1%) remained relatively stable. Other types of targets were attacked much less frequently. For example, attacks on utilities declined from 120 in 2016 to 32 in 2017. Attacks targeting non-state militias declined from 149 in 2016 to 17 in 2017. Attacks against transportation targets declined from 39 in 2016 to nine in 2017.
- The declines in terrorist violence in 2017 were not geographically uniform across Iraq.
- The most dramatic declines in the number of terrorist attacks and the number of people killed in terrorist attacks took place in Baghdad and Al Anbar governorate.
- In Baghdad, there were 364 attacks and 422 people killed in 2017, compared to 965 attacks and 2,053 people killed in 2016.
- In Al Anbar, there were 298 attacks and 492 people killed in 2017, compared to 664 attacks and 1,673 people killed in 2016.
- In contrast, the number of terrorist attacks in Nineveh nearly doubled from 270 attacks in 2016 to 523 attacks in 2017. Terrorist violence in Nineveh remained exceptionally deadly in 2017 as more than 2,000 people were killed, albeit less so than in 2016, when more than 3,000 people were killed in terrorist attacks in Nineveh.
Afghanistan
- The total number of terrorist attacks in Afghanistan decreased 13 percent between 2016 and 2017, while the total number of deaths increased two percent. At the same time, perpetrator deaths declined eight percent, though the percentage of total fatalities in Afghanistan that were perpetrator deaths remained especially high – 46 percent, compared to 24 percent worldwide.
- Like Iraq, Pakistan, India, and Somalia, Afghanistan experienced a large decrease (-51%) in the number of people kidnapped or taken hostage in terrorist attacks in 2017.
- Information about perpetrator groups was reported for more than two-thirds of all attacks in Afghanistan in 2017 (69%).
- The majority of these attacks (86%) were attributed to the Taliban. Attacks carried out by the Taliban in 2017 killed more than 3,500 people (including nearly 2,000 perpetrators) and wounded more than 3,100 additional people. These patterns were remarkably stable between 2016 and 2017.
- The number of terrorist attacks attributed to the Khorasan branch of ISIS in Afghanistan more than doubled, from 58 terrorist attacks resulting in more than 500 deaths in 2016, to 119 attacks resulting in more than 670 deaths in 2017.
- Four of the 20 deadliest individual attacks in 2017 took place in Afghanistan – in Kabul, Paktia, Paktika, and Sari Pul. Like Iraq, Afghanistan experienced deadly coordinated terrorist attacks in 2017. Of the 54 occasions in 2017 when more than 50 people were killed in terrorist attacks on one day in a particular country, more took place in Afghanistan (16 days) than in any other country.
- Attacks against police targets comprised 42 percent of terrorist attacks in Afghanistan in 2017, up from 35 percent in 2016. The increase in attacks on police targets was concentrated in particular in attacks on police buildings, which increased from 87 in 2016 to more than 150 in 2017. Private citizens and property were targeted in one-quarter (24%) of the attacks in Afghanistan in 2017 (down from 33% in 2016), followed by attacks on general government targets which remained stable, comprising 12 percent of attacks in 2017.
- In Afghanistan, nine percent of all terrorist attacks were suicide attacks in 2017. This represents a slight increase to 108 suicide attacks, from 100 in 2016.
- Terrorist attacks continued to occur throughout Afghanistan in 2017, taking place in 32 of the country’s 34 provinces (with the exception of Daykundi and Panjsher provinces). However, there were some key geographic shifts. The provinces that experienced the most terrorist attacks in 2017 were Nangarhar (11% of all attacks; +29% compared to 2016), Kabul (8%; stable compared to 2016), Ghazni (7%; +37% compared to 2016), and Faryab (6%; stable compared to 2016). The number of terrorist attacks in Helmand and Kandahar provinces decreased in 2017 – down 42 percent and 36 percent, respectively – though violence in both provinces remained very deadly, resulting in hundreds of deaths.
India
- The number of terrorist attacks declined eight percent in India; however, the total number of people killed in terrorist attacks increased 10 percent in 2017. The increase in lethality was particularly a result of increasing numbers of victim deaths, as perpetrator deaths declined 30 percent in 2017.
- Despite the increased lethality of terrorism in India, the number of people killed remained relatively low compared to other countries that also experienced a great deal of terrorist violence. On average, terrorist attacks in India caused 0.5 total deaths per attack in 2017, compared to 2.3 deaths per attack worldwide.
- Nearly three-quarters of attacks (74%) in India in 2017 were non-lethal. However, there were four attacks in which more than 10 people were killed, compared to two such attacks in 2016. One of the deadliest attacks in India in 2017 took place in January when assailants sabotaged a railway track, causing a train derailment that killed more than 30 people and injured more than 60 others in Andhra Pradesh.
- The number of people kidnapped or taken hostage in terrorist attacks in India declined 29 percent, from 317 in 2016 to 224 in 2017.
- Information about the perpetrator groups responsible for terrorist attacks in India was reported in source materials for 64 percent of all attacks. Compared to the other countries that experienced the most terrorist attacks and fatalities in 2016, the diversity of perpetrator groups was much greater in India, with 43 active groups. However, more than half of the terrorist attacks carried out in India in 2016 (53%) were attributed to the Communist Party of India-Maoist or Maoist perpetrators not specifically identified as belonging to a particular organization. This statistic represents a decrease from 65 percent in 2016 due to increases in almost entirely non-lethal terrorist violence carried out by other perpetrator groups such as the separatist groups Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM) and Gorkha Liberation Army (GLA).
- While bombings remained the most common tactic among terrorist attacks in India, comprising nearly one-third of all attacks (31%), the number of bombing attacks declined from 424 attacks in 2016 to 265 attacks in 2017. In contrast, the number of facility/infrastructure attacks (primarily involving incendiary weapons aimed at causing property damage) increased from 106 attacks in 2016 to 198 attacks in 2017.
- More than half of the terrorist attacks in India in 2017 took place in three states: Jammu and Kashmir (25%), Chhattisgarh (15%), and West Bengal (10%). This geographic pattern reflects several key changes, in comparison to 2016:
- Jammu and Kashmir saw a 24 percent increase in attacks in 2017 and an 89 percent increase in the number of people killed in terrorist attacks.
- West Bengal saw a 215 percent increase in attacks, from six in 2016 to 76 in 2017. Many of these attacks were arson attacks aimed at causing property damage, or bombings that caused relatively few casualties. They were attributed to the GJM and the GLA.
- In contrast, the number of terrorist attacks in Jharkhand and Manipur declined in 2017, 15 percent and 33 percent, respectively.
Pakistan
- In 2017, the total number of terrorist attacks reported in Pakistan decreased 22 percent, and the total number of deaths decreased 11 percent; however, the total number of people injured increased six percent in comparison to 2016. Perpetrator deaths comprised nine percent of all deaths in Pakistan in 2017, compared to 24 percent worldwide.
- For 72 percent of all attacks in Pakistan in 2017, source materials did not identify a perpetrator group. Of the remaining attacks, 38 percent were carried out by Tehrik-e Taliban Pakistan (TTP), the most active and deadly perpetrator group in Pakistan in 2017. The number of terrorist attacks carried out by TTP continued to decline, to 60 in 2017, down from 139 in 2013.
- In addition, the Khorasan branch of ISIS – which first claimed responsibility for terrorist attacks in Pakistan in December 2014 – carried out 27 percent of attacks in Pakistan in 2017. ISIS-Khorasan operatives increased their activity in Pakistan in 2017, carrying out 43 attacks (+13% compared to 2016) that killed at least 330 people (+45%) and wounded more than 800 others (+85%).
- Twenty other groups, including Lashkar-i-Jhangvi, and a number of Baloch nationalist groups such as the Baloch Liberation Front, the Baloch Liberation Army, the Baloch Republican Army, and the United Baloch Army, carried out attacks in Pakistan in 2017.
- Nearly two-thirds of terrorist attacks in Pakistan in 2017 targeted private citizens and property (32%), police (21%), and general government entities (10%). Although attacks on religious figures and institutions comprised four percent of all terrorist attacks in Pakistan in 2017, these attacks caused in 19 percent of all deaths due to terrorism in Pakistan. Among the deadliest attacks on religious targets in Pakistan were a suicide bombing in February that targeted a Sufi shrine in Sindh, killing at least 90 people and injuring more than 350 others, and a suicide bombing in March in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas that targeted a Shia mosque and a market, killing at least 23 people and injuring at least 136 others.
- The majority of attacks in Pakistan in 2017 took place in Balochistan (47%) and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (19%). The decline in the number of terrorist attacks was particularly steep in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Sindh provinces, where attacks decreased by more than 85 percent since 2013. In Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, the number of deaths caused by terrorist attacks declined 89 percent since 2013, commensurate with decreasing numbers of attacks. However, in Sindh, twice as many people were killed in terrorist attacks in 2017 compared to 2016, due to an attack that targeted a Sufi shrine in February, killing at least 90 people.
Nigeria
- The frequency and lethality of terrorism in Nigeria continued to decline in 2017, following severe increases in the total number of attacks, deaths, injuries, and hostages in 2014. Compared to 2016, the number of attacks declined by 12 percent, the total number people killed due to terrorist attacks declined by 16 percent, total injuries declined by seven percent, and the number of people kidnapped or taken hostage in terrorist attacks declined by eight percent. Despite these reductions, more than 1,800 people were killed, and Nigeria ranked third among countries in terms of total fatalities due to terrorism in 2017.
- The number of perpetrators killed in terrorist attacks in Nigeria increased 75 percent from 166 in 2016 to 291 in 2017. Perpetrator deaths comprised 19 percent of total deaths in Nigeria in 2017, compared to 24 percent worldwide.
- Exceptionally lethal attacks remained somewhat less prevalent in Nigeria in 2017. Two of the 20 deadliest attacks in 2017 took place in Nigeria, compared to eight in 2014, four in 2015, and one in 2016. Likewise, in 2014, there were 20 individual attacks that caused more than 50 total fatalities in Nigeria. In 2015, there were eight such attacks, in 2016 there were four, and in 2017 there were three.
- Information about perpetrator groups was reported for 74 percent of terrorist attacks in Nigeria in 2017. Following a surge in attacks carried out by Fulani extremists and Niger Delta militant groups in 2016, both declined dramatically in 2017. Violence carried out by Fulani extremists – who are engaged in a land resource conflict in eastern Nigeria, and were responsible for more terrorist violence than any other group in Nigeria in 2016 – dropped 50 percent in 2017 to 72 attacks in which 321 were people killed. Terrorist violence by various groups that emerged in the Niger Delta region and carried out dozens of attacks in 2016 was reduced to two attacks in 2017. Both targeted oil pipelines and did not cause any casualties.
- In contrast to overall patterns in Nigeria in 2017, terrorist violence by Boko Haram and its offshoot ISIS-West Africa increased for the first time since 2014. Note that because Nigerian authorities and media sources did not consistently differentiate between Boko Haram’s Shekau faction and ISIS-West Africa’s al-Barnawi faction, their activity remained grouped together in the Statistical Annex dataset.
- Specifically, the number of attacks carried out by Boko Haram and ISIS-West Africa in Nigeria increased 57 percent between 2016 and 2017, and the total number of people killed in attacks by Boko Haram and ISIS-West Africa in Nigeria increased 37 percent. More than 160 people were held hostage or kidnapped in Nigeria by Boko Haram and ISIS-West Africa in 2017. This was consistent with 2016, following a sharp decline compared to 2014 and 2015, when Boko Haram kidnapped more than five times as many people each year.
- The majority of terrorist attacks in Nigeria in 2016 (58%) targeted private citizens and property, compared to 37 percent worldwide. Consistent with the patterns described above for various perpetrator groups, the dramatic increase in attacks targeting oil-related utilities observed in 2016 (79 attacks; 17% of all attacks in Nigeria) completely dissipated in 2017 (three attacks; less than 1% of all attacks in Nigeria). In contrast, the number of terrorist attacks against the following types of targets increased in 2017, compared to 2016: general government targets (+38%; 33 attacks and 92 deaths), religious figures and institutions (+50%; 21 attacks and 132 deaths), non-state militias (+500%; 18 attacks and 65 deaths), and educational institutions (+1,200%; 13 attacks and 22 deaths).
- In 2017, terrorist attacks took place in 28 states and the Federal Capital Territory. Nearly half of all attacks in 2017 (48%) took place in Borno, an increase in geographic concentration compared 2016 when there were sharp increases in terrorist violence in Benue, Delta, Kaduna, and Bayelsa. In addition to Borno, several other states saw increasing numbers of terrorist attacks in 2017: Adamawa (+188%; 46 attacks and 223 deaths), Plateau (+375%; 19 attacks and 84 deaths), Ondo (+300%; eight attacks and one death), and Edo (+300%; 12 attacks and eight deaths).
Somalia
- For the second year in a row, terrorist violence increased in Somalia in 2017. The number of attacks increased only slightly, from 367 in 2016 to 370 in 2017; however, the number of casualties caused by these attacks increased much more significantly.
- More than 1,400 people were killed in terrorist attacks in Somalia in 2017, twice as many as in 2016. Perpetrator deaths comprised nine percent of all deaths in Somalia in 2017, compared to 15 percent in 2016, and 24 percent worldwide in 2017.
- More than 1,000 people were injured in terrorist attacks in Somalia in 2017, up from 943 in 2017.
- In contrast, the number of people taken hostage or kidnapped in decreased from 391 in 2016 to 286 in 2017.
- These patterns are largely due to the fact that the deadliest terrorist attack worldwide in 2017 took place in Somalia in October, when a suicide bomber detonated an explosives-laden truck outside the Safari Hotel in Mogadishu. Al-Shabaab was blamed but did not publicly claim responsibility for the attack, which killed more than 580 people and injured more than 300 others.
- Information about the perpetrators was reported for 80 percent of attacks in Somalia in 2017. Al-Shabaab was responsible for nearly all (97%) of these attacks. The only other perpetrator group responsible for terrorist attacks in Somalia in 2017 was Jabha East Africa (ISIS- Somalia), reportedly composed of al-Shabaab dissidents who pledged allegiance to ISIS in April 2016. Jabha East Africa carried out 12 terrorist attacks in 2017 – targeting police, private citizens, businesses, government, and military targets – killing 27 people.
- The most common tactics used in terrorist attacks in Somalia were bombings and assassinations, which comprised more than two-thirds (71%) of all attacks. The number of terrorist bombings in Somalia increased four percent in 2017 and the number of terrorist assassinations increased 31 percent in 2017. The prevalence of assassinations in Somalia (27% of all attacks) is particularly high in comparison to the global average (8% of all attacks).
- Three types of targets comprised more than three-quarters (77%) of all attacks in Somalia in 2017: general government targets (35%), private citizens and property (28%), and military targets (14%). Note that attacks against military targets are only included in the Statistical Annex dataset if they are carried out indiscriminately in such a way that causes civilian casualties.
- More than half of all terrorist attacks in Somalia in 2017 (51%) took place in Banaadir (Mogadishu), a degree of geographic concentration that increased in comparison to 2016 (40%) and 2015 (34%). Additionally, 14 percent of all attacks in 2017 took place in Lower Shebelle region, and seven percent took place in Bari, where there were 26 terrorist attacks and 126 deaths in 2017, up from six attacks and eight deaths in 2016. All but one of the 10 attacks carried out by Jabha East Africa (ISIS- Somalia) in 2017 took place in Bari.
CASUALTIES
- The total number of deaths from terrorist attacks worldwide decreased 27 percent, from 25,722 in 2016 to 18,753 in 2017. These figures include perpetrator deaths, which decreased 34 percent, from 6,745 in 2016 to 4,430 in 2017. The prevalence of perpetrator deaths and injuries was historically much lower but began to increase in the 2000s, largely due to shifting tactics in Afghanistan and, to a lesser extent, in Iraq in the 2010s.
- Shown in Figure 2, more than half of all attacks in 2017 (52%) were non-lethal, and attacks that caused more than 10 deaths represented a relatively small proportion (4%) of all terrorist attacks in 2017. The number of attacks that killed more than 10 people declined 33 percent, compared to 2016. This pattern reflects a continuation of decreasing lethality of terrorist attacks since 2015.
- Attacks that killed more than 10 people occurred in 26 different countries in 2017, including most frequently Afghanistan (104), Iraq (80), Syria (24), and Nigeria (18).
- The number of exceptionally lethal terrorist attacks in which more than 100 people were killed remained stable in 2017. In 2014, 20 such attacks took place, primarily driving the dramatic increase in total fatalities that year. In 2015, the number of exceptionally lethal attacks involving more than 100 deaths declined to 14, and in 2016 this figure further declined – there were 10 attacks involving more than 100 total deaths. Ten such attacks were carried out in 2017 as well. Combined, these attacks resulted in the deaths of more than 2,100 people in 2017. This represents a decrease from more than 2,500 people killed in 2016. However, in 2016 nearly 800 of the people killed were perpetrators and in 2017 all but two were victims.
- Among the attacks that resulted in only one death in 2017, 36 percent were bombings, 30 percent were armed assaults, 121 percent were assassinations, and eight percent were kidnappings.
- In 11 percent of the terrorist attacks that resulted in one death, the person killed was the perpetrator, and 55 percent of this subset of attacks were suicide attacks. The remainder involved a perpetrator who was either killed accidentally when explosives detonated prematurely, or the attack was repelled by authorities.
- More than two-thirds of non-lethal attacks in 2017 were either bombings (57%) or facility/infrastructure attacks (16%), and 34 percent of the non-lethal attacks were unsuccessful (e.g., an explosive was planted, but it was defused or failed to detonate). Overall, the percentage of attacks that were unsuccessful has been gradually increasing, to 20 percent in 2017 from 12 percent in 2012.
- More than 8,900 people were kidnapped or taken hostage in 920 terrorist attacks in 2017. There were 19 percent fewer kidnapping and hostage attacks in 2017, and the total number of people kidnapped or taken hostage decreased 43 percent.
- In 13 attacks in 2017, more than 100 victims were kidnapped or taken hostage. Seven of these attacks, involving more than 1,500 victims in total, were carried out in Iraq and Syria by ISIS. Other attacks involving more than 100 hostages took place in Afghanistan, Central African Republic, Indonesia (2), Myanmar, and Venezuela.
- More than 3,900 kidnapping victims or hostages who were taken in 2017 were released, rescued, or escaped from their captors. The remaining hostages were either killed, remained in captivity, or the outcome of the event was not reported.
PERPETRATORS
- Information about perpetrators was reported in source materials for 56 percent of terrorist attacks in 2017. A total of 328 groups and organizations were identified as perpetrators of terrorist attacks, compared to 348 in 2016. This includes more than 80 groups and organizations that had not previously been identified as perpetrators in the Global Terrorism Database.
- In 37 percent of the attacks in 2017 for which there was information about perpetrator groups, an organization explicitly claimed responsibility. For the remaining attacks, source documents attributed responsibility to a particular group or groups based on reports from authorities or observers.
- Table 3 shows the perpetrator groups responsible for the most terrorist attacks in 2017, along with the number of terrorist attacks they carried out, the number of people killed and injured by these attacks, and the number of people kidnapped or taken hostage in these attacks. Note that because Nigerian authorities and media sources did not consistently differentiate between Boko Haram’s Shekau faction and ISIS-West Africa’s al-Barnawi faction, their activity remained grouped together in the Statistical Annex dataset.
- Of the attacks for which perpetrator information was reported in 2017, 17 percent were carried out by ISIS. (Note: Attacks attributed to ISIS in the Statistical Annex dataset exclude those attributed to specific declared branches of ISIS such as those operating in the Afghanistan/Pakistan region, Egypt, Libya, and West Africa. They also do not include attacks carried out by unaffiliated individuals who might have been inspired by ISIS.) Additionally, 14 percent of attacks in 2017 were carried out by the Taliban.
Table 3: Five perpetrator groups with the most attacks worldwide, 2017
Groups | Total Attacks 2017/2016 | Total Deaths* 2017/2016 | Total Injuried* 2017/2016 | Kidnapped 2017/2016 |
Islamic State | 857/1153 | 4350/9180 | 3262/7786 | 2180/8391 |
Taliban | 703/851 | 3654/3620 | 3205/3572 | 705/1501 |
Al-Shabaab | 353/342 | 1464/736 | 1049/927 | 316/393 |
Maoist | 295/338 | 206/177 | 212/141 | 125/141 |
Boko Haram | 276/200 | 1287/1090 | 949/1121 | 235/232 |
- Of the organizations listed in Table 3, al-Shabaab (+3%) and Boko Haram and ISIS-West Africa (+38%, collectively) carried out more terrorist attacks in 2017 than they did in 2016.
- The increase in attacks carried out by al-Shabaab took place entirely in Kenya (+48%), as the number of attacks attributed to the group in Somalia declined slightly (-3%).
- The increase in attacks carried out by Boko Haram and ISIS-West Africa took place entirely in Nigeria (+57%), as the number of attacks attributed to the groups outside of Nigeria (in Cameroon, Chad, Mali, and Niger) declined slightly (-1%).
- While the number of people killed in attacks carried out by ISIS declined 53 percent between 2016 and 2017, the lethality of attacks carried out by the other groups listed in Table 3 increased. In the case of al-Shabaab, approximately twice as many people were killed in terrorist attacks in 2017 compared to 2016.
- The frequency of terrorist violence by Maoist extremists in India declined between 2016 and 2017 with respect to the number of attacks; however, the number of people killed increased 16 percent, and the number of people injured increased 50 percent. Both the number of attacks in which people were kidnapped or taken hostage, and the number of people kidnapped or taken hostage by Maoist extremists in India decreased in 2017.
- Although the number of terrorist attacks carried out by the Taliban in 2017 decreased 17 percent compared to 2016, the total number of deaths caused by the Taliban’s terrorist attacks remained relatively consistent.
- The geographic reach of ISIS receded somewhat in 2017, as the group carried out attacks in 10 countries, compared to 15 in 2016. The extent of terrorist violence attributed to ISIS outside Iraq and Syria also declined, from 82 attacks that killed more than 300 people in 2016 to 30 attacks that killed more than 100 people in 2017.
- This does not include attacks attributed to other organizations that have pledged allegiance to ISIS. In addition to ISIS-West Africa, the most active of the ISIS affiliates were located in Afghanistan/Pakistan and Egypt. The number of attacks carried out by ISIS affiliates in Libya decreased dramatically, from nearly 200 attacks that killed more than 260 people in 2016 to more than 20 attacks that killed more than 20 people in 2017.
TACTICS and WEAPONS
Each recorded terrorist attack involves one or more tactics in a continuous sequence of actions. Shown in Figure 3, the most commonly used tactic in 2017 involved explosives (47%), followed by armed assaults (22%), which almost always involved firearms.
- In addition to the tactics shown in Figure 3, there were 93 unarmed assaults in 2017—attacks aimed at harming people without the use of explosives or firearms. Unarmed assaults primarily involved melee weapons, chemical weapons, or vehicles as weapons. There were also 56 hijackings carried out in 2017, primarily targeting cars, trucks, and buses as well as several boats and cargo ships. Each of these comprised one percent or less of all tactics.
- The lethality of terrorist tactics varied considerably. On average, attacks in which hostages were taken were by far the deadliest in 2017. Kidnappings resulted in four deaths per attack, on average, and barricade incidents resulted in 11 deaths per attack. The tactics that were least likely to be deadly were unarmed assaults (85% nonlethal) and facility or infrastructure attacks (97% nonlethal).
- The number of suicide attacks decreased 11 percent, from 698 in 2016, to 620 in 2017. Suicide attacks in 2017 killed more than 5,100 people, including more than 1,300 perpetrators. Suicide attacks took place in 30 countries in 2017, up from 26 in 2016. More than two-thirds of the suicide attacks in 2017 took place in Iraq (216 suicide attacks), Afghanistan (108), and Nigeria (108). On average, suicide attacks in 2017 were 4.7 times as lethal as non-suicide attacks.
- Although the use of vehicles as contact weapons (as opposed to VBIEDs) remained exceptionally rare, the number of attacks involving vehicles as contact weapons did increase, from 14 in 2016 to 25 in 2017. In 2016, these attacks were especially lethal, causing more than 100 deaths. In 2017 more than 50 people were killed in attacks involving vehicles as contact weapons.
TARGETS
Each attack in the Statistical Annex dataset includes information on up to three different targets and/or victims. Fewer than 1,000 terrorist attacks in 2017 involved multiple types of targets. The types of targets attacked in 2017 are shown in Table 4.
- Two-thirds of all targets attacked in 2017 were classified as either private citizens and property (40%), police (18%), or general government targets (11%), as shown in Table 4.
- The private citizens and property targeted in terrorist attacks in 2017 most frequently included unnamed civilians (26%), followed by attacks that targeted villages or towns (19%).
- Terrorist attacks that targeted police in 2017 were most frequently aimed at security forces (36%), followed by police buildings such as headquarters or stations (28%), and vehicles or convoys on patrol (22%).
- The general government targets attacked in 2017 were most often government employees (33%), political entities including politicians, parties, rallies, and meetings (28%), or government buildings, facilities, or offices (16%).
- The overall decline in terrorism between 2016 and 2017 impacted nearly all types of targets, with few exceptions. These include attacks targeting “violent political parties” that engage in both electoral politics and terrorist attacks, which doubled in 2017, and attacks against tourists which, although relatively rare, increased 27 percent in 2017.
Table 4: Targets of terrorist attacks worldwide, 2017
Target Type | Number of Targets |
Private Citizens & Property | 3422 |
Police | 1596 |
Government (General) | 919 |
Business | 797 |
Military | 457 |
Religious Figures/Institutions | 228 |
Educational Institution | 162 |
Utilities | 159 |
Terrorists/Non-State Militia | 158 |
Transportation | 149 |
Violent Political Party | 149 |
Journalists & Media | 123 |
Government (Diplomatic) | 92 |
Other | 84 |
Non-Governmental Organizations | 55 |
Telecommunication | 33 |
Tourists | 14 |
Airports & Airlines | 13 |
Maritime | 12 |
Food or Water Supply | 10 |
Abortion Related | 1 |
Abortion Related | 8633 |
DEATHS, INJURIES, AND KIDNAPPINGS OF PRIVATE U.S. CITIZENS – 2017
Provided by the Bureau of Consular Affairs, U.S. Department of State
The term “Private U.S. citizen” refers to any U.S. citizen not acting in an official capacity on behalf of the U.S. government. Therefore, these figures do not include, for example, U.S. military personnel killed or injured in a terrorism-related incident while on active duty or employees of the Department of State and other federal agencies while overseas on U.S. government orders. Members of U.S. government employees’ households and U.S. citizens working for contractors hired by the U.S. government, however, are considered private U.S. citizens for purposes of this report.
Although every effort was made to include all terrorism-related deaths and injuries involving private U.S. citizens overseas, the figures below reflect only those cases reported to, or known by, the Department of State. These figures may not reflect actual numbers of injured, which may not always be reported, depending on the severity of injuries and other factors. In the cases of Iraq, Syria, and Afghanistan, it is particularly difficult to gather comprehensive information about all incidents and to distinguish terrorism from the numerous other forms of violence.
U.S. citizens overseas killed as a result of incidents of terrorism: 7
U.S. citizens overseas injured as a result of incidents of terrorism: 8
U.S. citizens overseas kidnapped as a result of incidents of terrorism: 3
TERRORISM DEATHS OF PRIVATE U.S. CITIZENS IN 2017 (BY COUNTRY)
Country | Date of Death | Number | Location |
Egypt | May 26 | 1 | Minya Province |
UK | March 22 | 1 | London |
Pakistan | November 29 | 1 | Islamabad |
Somalia | October 14 | 3 | Mogadishu |
Spain | August 17 | 1 | Barcelona |
TERRORISM INJURIES OF PRIVATE U.S. CITIZENS IN 2017 (BY COUNTRY)
Country | Date of Death | Number | Location |
Afeghanistan | January 10 | 1 | Kandahar |
UK | March 22 | 1 | London |
UK | June 3 | 3 | London |
Turkey | January 1 | 1 | Istambul |
Spain | August 17 | 1 | Barcelona |
Israel, West Bank, Gaza | November 17 | 1 | Efrat South and Gush Etzion junctions |
TERRORISM KIDNAPPINGS OF PRIVATE U.S. CITIZENS IN 2017 (BY COUNTRY)
Country | Date of Kidnapping | Number | Location |
Colombia | April 18 | 3 | Vaupes |