PH ranks 11th in global terrorism index

The Philippines has the fifth biggest improvement in decrease of deaths related to terrorism in 2014, a think tank report has said.

The Philippines ranks ninth out of 162 countries worst affected by terrorism, according to the Institute for Economics and Peace’s Global Terrorism Index for 2014.

“The fifth biggest improvement occurred in the Philippines which saw deaths decrease by 18 percent to 240 fatalities in 2014, down from 291 in 2013,” the report released on Tuesday said.

Pakistan has the biggest decrease in deaths, followed by Algeria, Russia and Lebanon.

The Philippines’ Global Terrorism Index score is 7.27 out of 10 in 2014. In a report released last year, the Philippines ranked ninth in terrorism activities for 2013.

“Deaths in 2014 are still the second highest recorded, the highest being in 2013. Terrorism in the Philippines is intrinsically tied with the nationalist and separatist claims by people living in the provinces in the southern Philippines,” the report said.

New People’s Army is the largest individual group responsible for the deaths in 2014 at 32 percent.

The study also noted that the Philippines had been placed in the 10 countries most affected by terrorism for six times from 2000 to 2014.

It also lists the Philippines as among the countries where foreign fighters in Iraq and Syria come from, a claim being repeatedly denied by the authorities.

“The flow of foreign fighters into Iraq and Syria since 2011 is the largest influx in modern times. Current estimates now range from 25,000 to 30,000 fighters, from roughly 100 countries,” the report said.

Globally, the study said terrorism continued to rise. It has the highest number recorded of deaths with over 32,000 people. In 2014, deaths increased to 80 percent.

Cost of terrorism also reached an all-time high of $52.9 billion.

Also in 2014, about 18,000 persons were killed, while groups Boko Haram and Islamic State were tagged responsible for 51 percent of deaths around the world.

The study said 78 percent of the deaths and 57 percent of the attacks occurred in five countries: Afghanistan, Iraq, Nigeria, Pakistan and Syria.

Iraq is still the country most affected by terrorism with about 9,000 casualties, the highest ever recorded in a single country. Nigeria, meanwhile, experienced the highest increase in terrorist activity with about 7,500 deaths.

Majority of the deaths did not occur in the West, the study noted, and 70 percent of these were “lone wolf” attacks. Political extremism usually triggered terrorism and not Islamic fundamentalism in Western countries, it pointed out.