The number of terrorist attacks worldwide and deaths from such attacks dropped in 2016 for a second successive year, driven by decreases in Afghanistan, Syria, Nigeria, Pakistan and Yemen, the U.S. State Department said on Wednesday.
The total number of terrorist attacks in 2016 dropped 9 percent compared to 2015, while fatalities caused by the attacks fell 13 percent, the department said in a report on global terrorism.
The terrorist group, Islamic State was the deadliest terror organization last year, carrying out 20 percent more attacks in Iraq and causing 69 percent more deaths there compared to 2015.
Data compiled by the University of Maryland for the State Department showed there were a total of 11,072 terrorist attacks worldwide last year, resulting in more than 25,600 deaths. Of those deaths, 6,700 were of perpetrators of the attacks.
Terrorist attacks took place in 104 countries in 2016, but the majority occurred in just five countries: Iraq, Afghanistan, India, Pakistan and the Philippines. Three-quarters of all deaths from terrorist attacks took place in Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria, Nigeria and Pakistan.
The report listed Iran and Syria as states sponsoring terrorism.
