Worldwide terror attacks down in 2009

WASHINGTON - The number of worldwide terrorist attacks dropped in 2009, but rose sharply in Afghanistan as the Taliban stepped up attacks on international forces as well as civilians, the US State Department said Thursday.

There were 2,126 terrorist attacks in Afghanistan in 2009, up from 1,222 from 2008. The number of people killed, injured or abducted in Afghanistan as a result of terrorism rose to 7,584 in 2009 from 5,430 in 2008, according to data provided by the National Counterterrorism Center and included in the State Department’s report.

Globally, there were 10,999 terrorist attacks last year, down from 11,725 in the previous year. The attacks claimed 14,971 lives in 2009, down by more than 700 from a year earlier, the statistics showed.

Part of the overall decline could be attributed to the emerging stability in Iraq, where the number of attacks that took place in 2009 - 2,458 - was the lowest in years.

The State Department report said although Al Qaeda has been weakened by increased pressure, particularly from Pakistan’s military operations against the terrorist network in remote areas near the Afghan border, it still remains the “most formidable terrorist organisation” targeting the US.

Daniel Benjamin, the State Department’s coordinator for counterterrorism, said Al Qaeda has harmed its standing in the Muslim world because of attacks on Muslims.