Al-Qaida’s fatal terrorism under Osama bin Laden ~ Global Agenda for Development

May 2, 2012, marks the first anniversary of the death of al-Qaida founder Osama bin Laden. Under his leadership, the

terrorist organization was responsible for thousands of deaths and injuries. This report summarizes the terrorist activity of al-Qaida and its network of affiliates. The fatal terrorism of al-Qaida Al-Qaida central[1], under the direction of Osama bin Laden, was responsible for—or suspected to be responsible for—60 terrorist attacks around the world between 1998[2] and 2010, an average of six attacks per year of activity. These attacks resulted in the deaths of at least 3,625 individuals. In addition, more than 5,000 people were wounded in al-Qaida attacks. In 2009 and 2010, there were no attacks attributed to al-Qaida. Almost 3,000 people were killed in the al-Qaida attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. More than 600 individuals were killed in fatal al-Qaida attacks in: • Afghanistan • Kenya • Pakistan • Saudi Arabia • Somalia • Tanzania • Tunisia • Turkey • Yemen Comparing al-Qaida with other groups More than 600 other groups have been engaged in terrorism worldwide since 1998. From 1998 to 2008, al-Qaida was responsible for only 0.3 percent of more than 21,000 total terrorist attacks. However, al-Qaida was responsible for 5.4 percent of terrorism fatalities during this same period, indicative of the intensely deadly nature of al-Qaida operations and efforts. Al-Qaida’s operations were especially deadly even in comparison to other notorious, long-standing terrorist organizations: • ETA, the Basque nationalist terrorist group in Spain, was responsible for approximately 820 deaths from 1972 to 2009. • The Irish Republican Army (IRA) was responsible for more than 1,800 fatalities dating back to 1970—less than half of the number of people killed by al-Qaida. • The Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) is responsible for nearly 5,000 terrorism fatalities in its history. While FARC has imposed this bloodshed over the course of more than 30 years, al-Qaida’s casualties were concentrated in just a 10-year period. Al-Qaida as a Node of Deadly Terrorist Organizations Al-Qaida has also become a crucial “node” in a network of deadly terrorist organizations—some created in the hopes of replicating al-Qaida, others aligning with al-Qaida for ideological or practical reasons. Research by Victor Asal and R. Karl Rethemeyer at the University at Albany (SUNY) has identified 33 different terrorist organizations with direct links and alliances to al-Qaida. Several of these AQ-allies have adopted al-Qaida’s practice of trying to inflict mass casualties. Since 1998, there have been 482 incidents of mass-casualty terrorism—single events in which more than 25 people are killed. Al-Qaida and its affiliates have carried out more than 140 mass-casualty terrorism attacks—nearly one-third of all that occurred during this period. Together, this network with al-Qaida at the core is responsible for the deaths of thousands of civilians around the world. Al-Qaida and Selected Affiliated Groups Number of Attacks Number of Fatalities Taliban 1779 4710 Al-Qaida 60 3625 Al-Qaida in Iraq 175 2544 Islamic State of Iraq (ISI) 174 1821 Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) 130 1125 Al-Shabaab 156 614 Salafist Group for Preaching and Fighting (GSPC) 214 580 Al-Qaida in the Lands of the Islamic Maghreb (AQLIM) 140 598 Jemaah Islamiya (JI) 73 339 Al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) 56 234 Ansar al-Sunna 16 164 Ansar al-Islam 25 88 Mujahedeen Shura Council 8 67 Al-Qaida in Yemen 12 49 Al-Qaida Organization for Jihad in Sweden 1 0 Al-Qaida in Lebanon 1 0 Al-Qaida Network for Southwestern Khulna Division 2 0 To read the full al-Qaida report “Al-Qaida’s fatal terrorism under Osama bin Laden,” visit http://www.start.umd.edu/start/publications/br/AQAttacks_20120501.pdf. View the announcement on START’s homepage here. Culled from START website