India ranks 6th among terror affected countries

India is ranked sixth in a list of countries affected by terrorism, with over 4,100 such incidents recorded in the past 34 years, according to an international database on terrorism.

The 'Global Terrorism Database', maintained at the University of Maryland by the National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism, said India was witness to 4,108 terrorist incidents between 1970 and 2004, in which 12,539 people have been killed.

"The fatalities show an average of 360 deaths per year due to terrorism in India. These fatalities peaked in 1991 and 1992 when 1,184 and 1,132 individuals were killed," the database said.

According to GTD, Peru, Columbia, El Salvador, the United Kingdom and Northern Ireland and Spain were ahead of India at being the receiving end of terrorism.

The database further revealed that the terrorists in India have launched various types of attacks. While 38.7 per cent of terrorist events were facility attacks, 29.7 per cent per cent were bombings in which the intent was to destroy a specific facility and 25.5 per cent were assassinations.

The recent events in Mumbai would be classified as a series of coordinated facility attacks.