MEASURING AND UNDERSTANDING THE IMPACT OF TERRORISM

LIBYA
PROPERTY
INCIDENTS 554 DAMAGE 712
DEAD
429
INJURED
570
GTI RANK 9
GTI SCORE 7.29
INCREASE IN DEATHS SINCE 2000
2014
+429
2000
ATTACKS BY TARGET
Private citizens & property
Military, militia or terrorist groups
Government
Police
Other
MAJOR ATTACK
DEATHS BY GROUP
Unknown
Other
Muslim Fundamentalists
Ansar al-Sharia (Libya)
WORST ATTACK
The Haftar Militia killed 37 and
injured when they attacked an
Ansar al-Sharia base.
Libya recorded a 255 per cent increase in terrorist fatalities in
2014 compared to the previous year. Terrorism in Libya is linked
to the Libyan crisis which began in 2011 after the Arab Spring
and subsequent military battle to overthrow leader Muammar
Gaddafi. However, levels of terrorism have increased drastically
since the beginning of the second Libyan civil war in 2014. There
were no deaths from terrorism in Libya until 2012 when 28
people were killed in 51 separate attacks. In 2013 terrorism more
than quadrupled to 121 deaths.
Although 60 per cent of attacks were from unknown groups, in
2014 there were still 30 groups that claimed responsibility for an
attack, with 18 groups killing at least one person. In comparison
in 2013 there were just 11 groups that claimed responsibility for
attacks, and only five groups in 2012.
The most deadly group in 2014 was Ansar al-Sharia, a jihadi
group which was responsible for the attack on the US consulate
in Benghazi. Ansar al-Sharia was responsible for 67 deaths in
2014, up from 14 in the previous year. The second most deadly
group in 2014 was the Haftar Militia, a group which is opposed to
the pro-Islamic militias led by Major General Khalifa Haftar. The
Haftar Militia mainly operate in the two largest cities in Libya;
Tripoli and Benghazi.
Benghazi had the most attacks with 214 people being killed in
2014 up from the 88 killed in the previous year. The city with the
second largest deaths from terrorism is Tripoli with 121 deaths,
followed by Sirte with 47 and Derna with 25.
Private citizens are the major target, representing 23 per cent of
incidents and 38 per cent of the total fatalities. Other major
targets for terrorism include the government, representing 22 per
cent of attacks, and business, representing 12 per cent.
Just under half of all attacks in Libya were bombings, with armed
assaults making up a quarter of attacks and hostage taking 11 per
cent. There were six suicide bombings in 2014 which killed 15
people. Three-hundred and nine attacks did not cause any
fatalities, whilst there were six attacks that had over 15 deaths.
The deadliest attacks were when the Haftar Militia targeted the
bases of two Islamist militant groups, Rafallah al-Sahati Brigade
and Ansar al-Sharia, in Benghazi city as one of three attacks on
16 May 2014 which killed at least 75 people including civilians.
There were 21 provinces which had at least one attack from
terrorism in 2014, up from 13 in 2013. Of these, eight provinces
had no deaths and nine had five or less deaths. The remaining
four provinces accounted for 407 of the deaths in 2014.
GLOBAL TERRORISM INDEX 2015 | Results
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