Letnik 9/2, september 2007 - Slovenska vojska

Denis Čaleta
We can see from the graph that the number of terrorist acts committed after 1987,
when it reached its peak, had been decreasing until 2004 when a large increase
of committed terrorist acts can be noticed. A decreasing number of terrorist acts
are not in linear connection with the number of fatalities due to terrorist acts. In
the following graphs I am going to show that this relation is just the opposite.
The number of victims is increasing which shows us that terrorists are using
increasingly deadly methods. The year 2005 presents a record in terms of the
number of executed terrorist acts. There were more than 11,000 terrorist acts
executed. This drastic increase of terrorist acts can be explained by the following
facts:
We were faced with a notable increase of committed terrorist acts in Iraq;
In comparison with terrorist acts outside Iraq one can see that they remain
practically on the same level as in 2004;
If we compare just the most deadly attacks in 2005 (London, Sharm al Shaykh,
Amman and Bali) with similar attacks in 2004 (Beslan, Madrid, attacks on Aeroflot
planes in Russia and the attack on ferryboat in Philippines) it shows that the year
2004 with its 3,000 victims was even more lethal than 2005 with 1,500 victims
(NCTC Report on Incidents of Terrorism 2005: 10).
Graph 2: Review of the number of deaths caused by different forms of terrorism in
2004
Other; 15; 2%
Violent attaks; 26; 4%
Arson; 5; 1%
Chemical attaks; 0; 0%;
Kidnapping; 111; 16%
Suicide attaks; 18; 3%
Bombs; 196; 29%
Armed attaks; 314; 45%
Source: National Counterterrorism Centre – NCTC; Chronology of Significant International
Terrorism for 2004 (2004: 88).
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