Al Qaeda-Linked Groups Among world’s Most Active Terrorist Groups

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Only one of the 5,000 terrorist attacks in 2011 is attributed to al Qaeda Central, but more than half of the top 20 most active perpetrator groups in 2011 are linked to al Qaeda, according to new data in the Global Terrorism Database (GTD).

The GDT, a comprehensive, unclassified database of terrorist incidents, now contains information on more than 104,000 domestic and international terrorist attacks between 1970 and 2011. These attacks resulted in more than 225,000 deaths and more than 299,000 injuries.

These attacks are defined as the threatened or actual use of illegal force and violence by a non-state actor to attain a political, economic, religious, or social goal through fear, coercion, or intimidation. The top five most active perpetrator groups of terrorist attacks in 2011 were: Communist Party of India – Maoist (CPI-M), Taliban, al-Shabaab, Boko Haram, Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC).

IHLS – Israel Homeland Security

While only one of the attacks in 2011 was attributed to al Qaeda Central — the August kidnapping of Maryland native Warren Weinstein in Pakistan — eleven of the top 20 most active groups are linked to al Qaeda. Those groups alone carried out more than 780 attacks which resulted in more than 3,000 deaths and wounded more than 4,600. Al Qaeda-linked groups were responsible for four of the top five most lethal attacks in 2011.

“Total attacks in the GTD in 2011 continued an upward trajectory that began a decade ago, paced by the ongoing historic shift in attacks away from al Qaeda Central and toward its growing number of affiliates,” said Gary LaFree, START director and professor of criminology and criminal justice at the University of Maryland.