Washington, May 1 (DPA) Terrorist attacks worldwide rose by 25 percent in 2006 compared to the previous year, with Iraq accounting for more than half the 20,000 fatalities, the US State Department said.
There were about 6,600 terrorist attacks in Iraq in 2006 that claimed 13,000 lives, the State Department said Monday in its annual report on international terrorism.
The number of terrorist attacks in Iraq grew by more than 3,000 from 2005 and made up 45 percent of all global attacks, the report said.
Five years since the Sep 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, the report cited progress in cooperation among nations in fighting Al Qaeda and other groups and at arresting key terrorist figures.
“This is not the kind of war where you can measure success with conventional numbers,” the State Department’s acting coordinator for counter terrorism, Frank C Urbancic, said.
More than 1,800 children were killed and wounded in terrorist attacks worldwide, and most of the victims overall were Muslims, Urbancic said.
Outside of Iraq and the Middle East, the number of terrorist attacks worldwide remained about the same during the last two years, the report said.
Iran continued to be the largest state sponsor of terrorism and, along with Syria, continued to support Hezbollah in Lebanon and Palestinian militant groups behind attacks on Israel, the report said.
Iran has also provided weapons and training for militants in Iraq carrying out terrorist attacks, the report said.