The Nigerian-based terrorist group Boko Haram was the world's deadliest terrorist outfit in 2014, overtaking the affiliated Islamic State group, according to a new report.
The annual Global Terrorism Index found that deaths caused by Boko Haram, most of which were in north Africa, increased by 317 percent in 2014 to a total of 6,644, compared to the 6,073 deaths attributed to the Islamic State group.
Together, the two organizations were responsible for 51 percent of all global fatalities caused by terrorism in 2014, according to the report published by the New York City-based Institute for Economics and Peace.
The Taliban, which was rated the deadliest group in 2013, ranked third in 2014, killing 3,477 people in terrorist attacks, a 38 percent increase in fatalities.
The number of deaths from terrorism increased 80 percent last year to the highest level ever, with 32,658 people killed in 2014, compared to 18,111 in 2013.
The vast majority of all deaths, 78 percent, occurred in just five countries: Iraq, Syria, Afghanistan, Nigeria and Pakistan. Fifty-seven percent of all terrorist attacks also occurred in these countries.
Iraq was still the country most impacted by terrorism, with 9,929 fatalities in 2014 — the highest ever recorded in a single country, according to the report. The largest increase in terrorist activity was seen in Nigeria, where 7,512 people were killed by terrorism in 2014, a 300 percent increase since 2013.
The number of countries experiencing more than 500 terrorism-related deaths also increased in 2014, rising from five to 11 with the addition of Somalia, Ukraine, Yemen, Central African Republic, South Sudan and Cameroon.
The report was released today, just one day after a suicide bombing killed 32 people and wounded 80 more at a truck stop in the city of Yola in northeastern Nigera, as HNGN previously reported. The attack bore the hallmarks of Boko Haram, though no group has claimed responsibility, according to Reuters.
Just last Friday, terrorists conducted coordinated attacks on multiple locations in Paris, killing 129 people and injuring more than 350. The Islamic State group claimed responsibility for that attack, as well as for one that occurred last Thursday in Beirut, where at least 37 were killed and more than 200 wounded, reported the Christian Science Monitor.
Today's report estimated that economic damage from terrorist activity in 2014 stands at $52.9 million, a 61 percent increase from 2013 and a 10-fold increase since the turn of the century. Fighting terrorism cost even more, with an estimated $117 billion spent globally to improve national security.
