Bangladesh is among the 13 countries which are at risk of substantial terrorist activities, a study into international terrorism says.
The country ranks 23rd among 162 nations, scoring 5.25 in the Global Terrorism Index Report 2014 released by Institute of Economics and Peace, a non-profit think tank, on Tuesday.
‘IEP has identified the following 13 countries as being at risk of increased terrorist activity from current levels: Angola, Bangladesh, Burundi, Central African Republic, Cote d’Ivoire, Ethiopia, Iran, Israel, Mali, Mexico, Myanmar, Sri Lanka and Uganda,’ the report added.
The study placed Bangladesh at 39 with a score of 3.67 among 158 countries in terms of impact of terrorism in the first index report for 2012.
In 2013, more than 80 per cent of the lives lost to terrorism occurred in only five countries – Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Nigeria and Syria, the index showed.
The largest year-on-year increase in deaths from terrorism was recorded between 2012 and 2013, increasing from 11,133 to 17,958.
The GTI is a comprehensive study that accounts for the direct and indirect impact of terrorism in 162 countries in terms of lives lost, injuries, property damage and the psychological after-effects of terrorism.
Countries with higher levels of terrorism were found to have three significant factors – greater social hostilities between different ethnic, religious and linguistic groups, lack of inter-group
cohesion and high levels of group grievances, presence of state-sponsored violence such as extrajudicial killings, political terror and gross human rights abuses.
IEP having offices in Sydney, New York, and Oxford works with a wide range of partners internationally and collaborates with intergovernmental organisations on measuring and communicating the economic value of peace.
It was the second edition of the Global Terrorism Index report which provided a comprehensive summary of the key global trends and patterns in terrorism over the last 14 years beginning in 2000 and ending in 2013.
Agence France-Presse, referring to the GTI report, reported that the number of people killed globally in terrorist attacks jumped by 61 per cent in 2013, reflecting the rise of Boko Haram and Islamic State jihadists.
Despite the global spike, the report stressed that the risk to westerners remained slim.
According to its figures, a person in Britain was 188 times more likely to be victim of a murder, and in the US 64 times more likely.
In its 2014 Global Terrorism Index launched in London, the Australian based research group reported there were almost 10,000 terrorist attacks in 2013, a 44 per cent increase on 2012.
These attacks resulted in 17,958 fatalities, up from 11,133 in 2012, with over 80 per cent of the deaths occurring in just five countries: Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Nigeria and Syria.
Iraq was found to be the country most affected by terrorism, recording a 164 per cent rise in fatalities, to 6,362, with IS responsible for most of the deaths.
Four groups: IS, Boko Haram, al-Qaeda and the Taliban were blamed for 66 per cent of all fatalities.
But the report found that attacks had also increased in the rest of the world, with fatalities rising by half the previous figure, to 3,236 in 2013.
Source: Newage
