The long and painful war against terrorism: 2013-14 the worst years to date

A new report has revealed that the number of people who have been killed by militants across the globe has jumped up more than 60% from 2013, reaching a record high of nearly 18,000. This death toll could continue to rise in 2014 because of the escalating conflicts in the Middle East and Nigeria.

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LOS ANGELES, CA (Catholic Online) - The report from the Australia and American Institute for Economics and Peace (IEP) showed that four Islamist groups are primarily responsible, accounting for two thirds of the attacks in 2013. The vast majority of these deaths occurred in Iraq, Syria, Afghanistan, Pakistan and Nigeria.

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The group's Global Terrorism Index showed that militant attacks are on the rise, with about two dozen countries seeing militant related death tolls over 50 in 2013.

The most active militant groups were the Islamic State, the Nigerian Islamist group Boko Haram, the Taliban and al-Qaeda and its affiliated networks.

"There is no doubt it is a growing problem. The causes are complex but the four groups responsible for most of the deaths all have their roots in fundamentalist Islam," said Steve Killelea, the founder of IEP.

"They are particularly angry about the spread of Western education. That makes any attempt at the kind of social mobilizing you need to stop them particularly difficult-it can just antagonize them more."

In 2012 the number of attacks was at just 10,000, but in 2013 that number jumped by 44%.

While the majority of these attacks are caused by Islamic groups, they don't make up the total number.

In India, the sixth most affected country, attacks rose 70% in 2013, mostly because of the growing communist insurrection.

The militant groups are increasingly targeting police, which makes fighting back an even larger problem. Many times there will be no government presence in an area where militants are highly active, and the people living there have to bow down to these groups.

The report also revealed that of all the militant groups that had ceased their activities since 2000, 80% did so after negotiations, while only 10% actually achieved their goals. A further 7% were eliminated by military forces.

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