NCJ Number
109683
Journal
Law and Order Volume: 35 Issue: 12 Dated: (December 1987) Pages: 67-72
Date Published
1987
Length
6 pages
Annotation
This article summarizes statistics on terrorist activities for 1986 as reported by the Institute for Strategic Studies on Terrorism, with attention to choice of targets, weapons, success ratios, and regions of greatest activity.
Abstract
The Institute recorded 1,401 incidents of international and domestic terrorism during 1986 committed in 107 nations by 98 known terrorist groups. The region most affected was the Middle East, followed by Europe. Lebanon led the victim nations, followed by Peru, France, and India. The United States ranked seventh, although its citizens and facilities overseas were primary targets almost 45 percent of the time. All countries which were victimized by terrorist incidents are listed, as are the known terrorist groups. An overview of terrorist weaponry focuses on bombs, noting that bombings took place at the rate of two per day in 1986. Also discussed are mass attacks or ambushes, kidnappings, the times (month and day) terrorist attacks occurred, types of explosive devices, and favorite targets. The article estimates that terorism in 1986 resulted in property damage amounting to $200 billion dollars. In addition, a known 1,885 individuals were killed and over 4,000 wounded. Counterterrorist tactics and future trends in terrorism are explored.