U.S. war on ISIS scores 44 percent drop in terrorism deaths

After registering a peak in 2014, deaths due to terrorism have dropped 44 percent, in large part due to the U.S. war on ISIS, according to an international group.

The sixth edition of the Global Terrorism Index said that the improvement in thwarting terrorism death was the best since 2004.

“The total number of deaths fell by 27 per cent between 2016 and 2017, with the largest falls occurring in Iraq and Syria. Iraq recorded over 5,000 fewer deaths from terrorism in 2017, while Syria recorded over 1,000 fewer deaths. The fall in deaths was reflected in scores on the GTI, with 94 countries improving, compared to 46 that deteriorated. This is the highest number of countries to record a year on year improvement since 2004 and reflects the increased emphasis placed on countering terrorism around the world since the surge in violence in 2013,” said the report produced by the Institute for Economics & Peace.

The United States, said the report, recorded 16 terror-related deaths. “In the U.S., there were 30 attacks in 2017 which resulted in 16 deaths. The majority of attacks were carried out by lone actors with far-right, white nationalist, or anti-Muslim beliefs,” it said.

The driving theme on why the numbers look good is the dismantling of ISIS, also called ISIL, now the target of American troops in Afghanistan.

The report, provided to Secrets in advance of its release, said:
The large falls in the number of deaths in Iraq and Syria is mainly the result of ISIL’s continuing decline. The number of deaths from terrorist attacks attributed to ISIL fell by 52 per cent in 2017, with total incidents falling by 22 per cent. There was a corresponding decrease in the lethality of attacks, highlighting the weakening capacity of the organisation. ISIL has now lost most of its territory and sources of revenue and is actively redirecting resources away from the Middle East and into North Africa, sub-Saharan Africa, and Southeast Asia.

Despite its reduced capacity, ISIL remained the deadliest terrorist group globally in 2017. The decline of ISIL has also been reflected in the level of terrorist activity in Europe, with the number of deaths falling by 75 per cent, from 827 in 2016 to 204 in 2017. Preliminary data for 2018 suggests this trend will continue, as less than ten deaths from terrorism have been recorded in Western Europe from January to October 2018. Afghanistan was the country that recorded the highest number of terrorism deaths in 2017. The number of deaths was approximately the same as the prior year.

Source: washingtonexaminer