Five SAARC countries hardest hit by terrorism

PAKISTAN: Five SAARC Members - Pakistan, Sri Lanka, India, Nepal and Afghanistan - figure prominently in a list of countries most hit by terror in the second quarter of 2008.

The list was released by the Centre of Excellence - Defence Against Terrorism.

According to the research, 2,396 terrorist incidents occurred worldwide in the period. A total of 4,204 people were killed and 7,614 were injured in these incidents. Iraq topped the list of the most-hit countries with 857 separate attacks in which 1,575 people were killed and 3,247 others were injured.

Thirty-five percent of total attacks in the world, 37 percent of total fatalities and 42 percent of total casualties sustained worldwide were recorded in Iraq, it added.

The other nine countries most hit by terrorism in the second quarter of the year include Afghanistan with 334, Sri Lanka with 327, Pakistan with 216, India with 195, Somalia with 112, Turkey with 71, Thailand with 55, Nepal with 44, and Israel with 31 terror incidents.