Worldwide Terrorism Trends:

The Global Terrorism Database

2013 Summit on the Global AgendaGAC Terrorism

Gary LaFreeNovember 18-20, 2013

National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism

DEFINITION OF TERRORISM

Acts by non-state actors involving the threatened or actual use of illegal force

or violence to attain a political, economic, religious, or social goal

through fear, coercion, or intimidation.

National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism

DEFINITION OF TERRORISM (CONT.)Mandatory inclusion criteria:

– The incident must be intentional – the result of a conscious calculation on the part of a perpetrator.

– The incident must entail some level of violence (includes property violence) or the threat of violence.

– There must be sub-national perpetrators

At least two of the following criteria must be met:1) The act must be aimed at attaining a political, economic, religious,

or social goal. In terms of economic goals, the exclusive pursuit of profit does not satisfy this criterion

2) There must be evidence of an intention to coerce, intimidate, or convey some other message to a larger audience (or audiences) than the immediate victims.

3) The action must be outside the context of legitimate warfare activities, i.e. the act must be outside the parameters permitted by international humanitarian law (particularly the admonition against deliberately targeting civilians or non-combatants).

15-25 graduate and under-

graduate interns review

articles and record

information on each attack

Principal Investigators and

Advisory Board guide data

collection strategy; manage

priorities and resources

Ten Researchers and

Research Assistants

coordinate data collection,

quality control projectsTEAM

USERS

DATA

Thousands of sources worldwide generate

over one million articles per day

Initial searches return ~50,000 articles per week

~7 percent are relevant to terrorist attacks

GTD staff identify hundreds of unique terrorist

attacks worldwide per month and record

120+ points of information about each one

Government agents use GTD data on a regular

basis and seek to partner with START. The majority

of the 200 people a month who download

GTD data are from government or

educational institutions.

Educators use GTD data to guide teaching and research. GTD data is

published in hundreds of academic papers and

articles, as well as used by teachers from more than 1,200 institutions

worldwide.

News media use the GTD in their reporting to inform the general

public. Information from the GTD is cited weekly

by international, national and local outlets, such as

NPR, Newsweek and Science.

National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism

Total Terrorist Attacks (1970 – 2013*)

0

2000

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12000

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Year

Total Attacks (1970-2013*)

* Estimate based on the first six months of 2013 data (n=10,200).

National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism

Total Terrorist Fatalities, 1970-2012

National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism

Regional Terrorist Attacks by Decade

National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism

Terrorist Attacks and Casualties Worldwide by Month, 2012

Month Total Attacks Total Killed Total WoundedTotal Kidnapped/

Taken HostageJanuary 595 1378 1838 133

February 461 801 1620 135

March 515 789 1931 78

April 579 843 1416 188

May 684 873 2523 104

June 591 1189 2580 254

July 571 1010 1817 68

August 615 953 1498 92

September 520 877 1853 31

October 614 986 1656 102

November 570 794 1878 46

December 456 605 1042 52

Total 6771 11098 21652 1283

National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism

Worldwide Terrorist Casualties, 2012

National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism

TACTICS USED IN TERRORIST ATTACKS WORLDWIDE, 2012

National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism

TARGETS OF TERRORIST ATTACKS WORLDWIDE, 2012

Target Type Number of TargetsPrivate Citizens/Property 2073

Police 1699

Government (General) 971

Business 480

Military 379

Educational Institution 325

Unknown 285

Religious Figures/Institutions 223

Transportation 221

Utilities 177

Terrorists or Non-state Militia 144

Government (Diplomatic) 95

Journalists and Media 84

Violent Political Party 83

Other 78

Telecommunication 57

NGO 44

Airports & Airlines 20

Food or Water Supply 19

Tourists 10

Total 7467

National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism

TEN COUNTRIES WITH THE MOST TERRORIST ATTACKS, 2012

Country Total Attacks Total Killed Total WoundedAverage Number Killed per Attack

Average Number Wounded per

Attack

Pakistan 1404 1848 3643 1.32 2.59

Iraq 1271 2436 6641 1.92 5.23

Afghanistan 1023 2632 3715 2.57 3.63

India 557 231 559 0.41 1.00

Nigeria 546 1386 1019 2.54 1.87

Thailand 222 174 897 0.78 4.04

Yemen 203 365 427 1.80 2.10

Somalia 185 323 397 1.75 2.15

Philippines 141 109 270 0.77 1.91

Syria 133 657 1787 4.94 13.44

National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism

TEN PERPETRATOR GROUPS WITH THE MOST ATTACKS WORLDWIDE, 2012

Perpetrator Group Name Total Attacks Total KilledAverage Number Killed per Attack

Taliban 525 1842 3.51

Boko Haram 364 1132 3.11

Al-Qa’ida in Iraq (AQI)/Islamic State of Iraq (ISI) 249 892 3.58

Maoists (India)/ Communist Party of India-Maoist 204 131 0.64

Al-Shabaab 121 278 2.30

Al-Qa’ida in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) 108 282 2.61

Tehrik-e Taliban Pakistan (TTP) 103 510 4.95

Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) 80 83 1.04

Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) 71 122 1.72

Corsican National Liberation Front (FLNC) 58 0 0.00

National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism

Top 10 Perpetrator groups, attacksTop 10 Perpetrator Groups (1970-2011)

Rank Perpetrator Group Total Attacks

1 Shining Path (SL) 4518

2Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front (FMLN) 3351

3 Irish Republican Army (IRA) 2673

4Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) 2045

5 Taliban 2030

6Basque Fatherland and Freedom (ETA) 2027

7Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) 1606

8Communist Party of India - Maoist (CPI-M) 1416

9 New People's Army (NPA) 1335

10National Liberation Army of Colombia (ELN) 1292

Top 10 Perpetrator Groups (2012)

Rank Perpetrator Group Total Attacks

1 Taliban 725

2 Boko Haram 401

3 Al-Qa`ida in Iraq 229

4 Al-Shabaab 225

5Al-Qa`ida in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) 195

6 Maoists 194

7 Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) 154

8 Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) 133

9Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) 83

10 New People's Army (NPA) 78

National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism

Top 10 perpetrator groups, fatalitiesTop 10 Perpetrator Groups (1970-2011)

Rank Perpetrator GroupTotal

Fatalities

1 Shining Path (SL) 11570

2Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam(LTTE) 10946

3Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front (FMLN) 8065

4 Nicaraguan Democratic Force (FDN) 6662

5 Taliban 5770

6Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) 5240

7 Hutus 4083

8 Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) 3602

9 Al-Qa`ida 3594

10 New People's Army (NPA) 3438

Top 10 Perpetrator Groups (2012)

Rank Perpetrator GroupTotal

Fatalities

1 Taliban 2303.25

2 Boko Haram 1231.6

3 Al-Qa`ida in Iraq 1000.16

4 Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) 942

5Al-Qa`ida in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) 889

6 Al-Shabaab 697

7 Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) 226

8Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) 156

9 M23 153

10 Maoists 133

National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism

www.start.umd.edu/gtdgtd@start.umd.eduglafree@umd.edu

Thanks!

National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism

http://ter.ps/3kn