Nigeria is still ranked third among the countries in the world that have been worst hit by terror attacks, according to the 2016 Global Terrorism Index report.
The GTI monitored and measured the impact of terrorism in 163 countries, covering 99.7 percent of the world’s population.
Nigeria had occupied the same position in last year’s ranking and was ranked fourth in 2014. For 2015, Nigeria ranked behind Iraq and Afghanistan.
Pakistan, Syria, Yemen, Somalia and India are ranked fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh and eighth, respectively, while Egypt and Libya round out the top 10 in the latest ranking.
However, the report, released on Wednesday by the Institute for Economics and Peace, indicates a 34-percent decline in the number of people killed by the terrorist group Boko Haram in 2015 in Nigeria.
The total number of people killed by Boko Haram in 2015 was 4,095, down from 6,136 in 2014, stated the report, which attributed the decline to the operation of the Nigerian military and the Joint Task Force in the northeast part of the country.
According to the report, Nigeria also had a reduction in the number of people killed by Fulani militants (herdsmen). “There were 630 fewer deaths by these militias in 2015, a decrease of 50 percent,” the report said.
This, according to the report, contributed to the overall 10 percent drop in the number of deaths caused by terrorism globally.
In fact, the report said Iraq and Nigeria had the largest reduction in deaths from terrorism from 2014 to 2015.
The gains made against Boko Haram by the Nigerian military, however, became the pains of the country’s neighbors, Niger and Cameroon, as the terrorist group spilled over and created more deaths in those two countries than previously recorded.
“Niger recorded a devastating year, with 11 terrorism deaths in 2014 rising to 649 in 2015. This is the largest proportional increase of any country and is due to the expansion of Boko Haram,” the report said.
Niger is now 16th in the latest ranking, compared to the 51st position it occupied last year. Increasing terrorism attacks in Cameroon moved it from 20th in 2015 to 14th in 2016.
ISIL, the Islamic militant group in Iraq, has now overtaken Boko Haram as the deadliest terrorist group in 2015, the report said.
“Despite the decrease in deaths from terrorism, Nigeria still experienced a high rate of violent deaths,” the report stated. “In addition to terrorism victims, there were at least 4,422 battle-related deaths from the conflict between Boko Haram and the Nigerian government in 2015, down from 8,233 in 2014.”
The report said on average, Boko Haram killed 11 people per attack in Nigeria and that the attacks mainly targeted civilians.
“Four out of five deaths from terrorism in Nigeria are civilians,” it said. “This is one of the highest targeting of civilians anywhere in the world.
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