WASHINGTON – Almost 59 per cent of all terrorist attacks in 2017 took placein five Asian countries, including India and Pakistan, a US report saidThursday. The other three countries include Afghanistan, Iraq and thePhilippines.
The total number of terrorist attacks worldwide last year decreased by 23per cent. Similarly, the total deaths due to terrorist violence decreasedby 27 per cent, according to the report.
The decline in terrorist violence was largely due to dramatically fewerattacks and deaths in Iraq, Nathan Sales, State Department coordinator ofcounterterrorism, said during a conference call with reporters Thursday.
“Although terrorist attacks took place in 100 countries in 2017, they wereconcentrated geographically. Fifty-nine percent of all attacks took placein five countries. Those are Afghanistan, India, Iraq, Pakistan, and thePhilippines. Similarly, 70 per cent of all deaths due to terrorist attackstook place in five countries, and those are Afghanistan, Iraq, Nigeria,Somalia, and Syria,” he said.
The annual State Department Country Report on Terrorism, he said, notes anumber of major strides that the United States and its allies made todefeat and degrade terrorist organisations in 2017.