Conflict has given fillip to global terrorism since 2023
By Zadock.Aangira, March 21, 2024
Conflict remains the primary driver of terrorist activity, with over 90 per cent of terror attacks and deaths in 2023 reported in countries in conflict.
According to the Global Terrorism Index (GTI) 2024, Israel had the largest increase in terrorism deaths in 2023 following the attack by Hamas on October 7, 2023, increasing from 24 in 2022 to 1,210 deaths last year.
The attack in Israel by Hamas was the single largest terrorist attack in history, and the biggest since the 9/11 terror attack.
“In 2023, 98 per cent of terror-ism deaths occurred in countries experiencing some level of conflict. Most of these occurred in countries at war, but the number of deaths in countries involved in minor conflicts has been steadily rising,” the report states.
The consequences of the Israeli attack have been immense and are still unfolding, with an estimated 25,000 Palestinians killed by Israel’s retaliatory military response as of February 2024. The GTI 2024 report also states that Iraq is no longer amongst the ten countries most impacted by terrorism.
Prior to 2023, Iraq had been ranked in the top ten every year. The report further states that terrorist deaths in 2023 fell by 519 in Afghanistan in 2023, an 81 percent improvement. Sub-Saharan Africa continues to be the most impacted region by terrorism in 2023 followed by the Mid-dle East and North Africa (MENA).
Islamic State (IS) and its affiliates remained the world’s deadliest ter-rorist group in 2023, despite deaths attributed to the group and its affiliates declining by 17 per cent from 1,963 to 1,636 deaths.
The four terrorist groups responsible for the most deaths in 2023 were Islamic State (IS), Hamas, Ja-maat Nusrat Allslam wal Muslimeen (JNIM), and Al-Shabaab. Of the 3,350 terrorist attacks recorded in 2023, 54 per cent were attributed to a group.
The countries with the highest number of attacks not attributed to a group were Myanmar, Burkina Faso, Mali, and Pakistan.