Global Terror Report: Attacks Increasing, Deaths Soaring, ISIS Supplanting Al Qaeda

A global terrorism report from the U.S. State Department detailed the growing danger of extremist attacks. Aside from a dramatic increase in attacks and deaths, the report also concluded that Al Qaeda has been supplanted by ISIS as the leading force in terror — a conclusion already reached by other jihadi experts.

According to the Times-Picayune, the official figures show that about 33,000 people were killed in 13,500 terrorist attacks in 2014. That is up from the roughly 10,000 attacks and just over 18,000 deaths in 2013. Meaning that not only are they up 35 percent, the fatalities-per-incident are skyrocketing.

NBC News reports that although terror attacks occurred in 95 countries, they were concentrated in just six countries — Iraq, Pakistan, Afghanistan, India, Nigeria, and Syria.

The degree of terrorist violence was the most headline-grabbing component of the report’s early release, but the shifting power dynamics from Al Qaeda to ISIS and Boko Haram were also prominent themes in the global war on terror.

“The prominence of the threat one posed by core Al Qaeda diminished in 2014,” According to CNN.

“Al Qaeda leadership also appeared to lose momentum as the self-styled leader of a global movement in the face of ISIL’s rapid expansion and proclamation of a Caliphate.”

As previously reported by the Inquisitr, some jihadi experts recently explained that Al Qaeda was almost to the point of collapse, with leader Zawahiri cut off from his commanders. Two expert sources claimed that Al Qaeda losing the ground war and losing the battle for new fighters with ISIS’ superior recruitment propaganda.

Better recruitment was a big part of the State Department’s report as well, which noted that ISIS “has been adroit at using the most popular social and new media platforms (YouTube, Facebook and Twitter) to disseminate its messages broadly.”

ISIS’ global recruiting abilities have changed the dynamics in Syria’s civil war. The terrorism report claims that more than 16,000 foreign fighters came to Syria in 2014, despite new laws and efforts to make such trips illegal.

“The rate of foreign terrorist fighter travel to Syria… exceeded the rate of foreign fighters who traveled to Afghanistan and Pakistan, Iraq, Yemen or Somalia at any point in the last 20 years.”

The report also highlights failed or troubled governments that are enabling global terrorism to spread, like in Iraq, Libya, Syria, and Yemen.

The final global terrorism report is expected to be officially released late on Friday.

[Image Credit: Getty Images]