India Third Most Affected by Terrorism in the World in 2017: U.S. Data

India was the world’s third most terrorism-hit country, after Iraq and Afghanistan, in 2017, according to a new report by the U.S. Department of State. 

The report, which came out on Sept. 20, also said that the Communist Party of India–Maoist (CPI-Maoist) is the world’s sixth most active or deadliest terror group. 

The countries with the most attacks were Iraq (23%) and Afghanistan (13%). India witnessed 9 percent of all terror attacks in the world, with Pakistan following at 7 percent, according to the report by the National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism (START), a research center which is part of the University of Maryland. This is the second time in two years that India has been ranked as the third most terrorism-affected country in the world.  

In 2017, Jammu and Kashmir saw a 24 percent spike in terror attacks and an 89 percent increase in the number of people killed. Out of the 860 attacks that India suffered last year, 25 percent happened in Jammu and Kashmir, the Times of India reported, citing the report. In 2016, 931 terror attacks took place in India. In 2017, Maoists were responsible for 53 percent of terror attacks in India. In the same year, India had 43 active terror groups. 

Once a deadly terror organization across large swathes of areas in Bihar, Jharkhand, West Bengal, Chhattisgarh, Odisha and Andhra Pradesh, the Maoists are now reduced to a few forests in Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh and Andhra Pradesh. With 317 attacks, Indian Maoists killed 223 people in 2017, which is down 12 percent from 2016.  The Maoists, though, are still very powerful in the areas under their control. They mostly attack defense or paramilitary forces and do not let any commercial/business activities happen in the areas they control.  

The list of deadliest terror organizations is led by the Islamic State group, which was involved in 1,321 attacks, killing 7,120 people in Iraq and Syria, the two countries where the organization is based. Taliban was placed at the second spot. The terror organization that controls large parts of Afghanistan, was involved in 907 attacks that killed 4,925 people in 2017. The third, fourth, and fifth top terror active terror organizations were Al-Shabaab, New People’s Army, and Boko Haram.  

The report also said that several locations experienced especially large decrease in terrorist violence between 2016 and 2017. These include Turkey, where the number of terrorist attacks decreased 67 percent and the number of total deaths decreased by 78 percent. In Yemen, the number of terrorist attacks decreased by 57 percent and the number of total deaths decreased by 50 percent. Saudi Arabia too experienced less terror activities, with the number of terrorist attacks decreasing by 56 percent and the number of total deaths decreasing by 81 percent.

On the other hand, several locations experienced especially large increase in terrorist violence in the same period. These include Nepal, where the number of terrorist attacks increased 474 percent, though these attacks were rarely lethal. In Cameroon, the number of terrorist attacks increased 68 percent, though the number of total deaths decreased 15 percent. Myanmar saw the number of terrorist attacks increase by 55 percent and the number of total deaths rise by 199 percent.