Overview of Targets

出处：按学科分类—政治、法律 BERKSHIREPUBLISHINGGROUP《PatternsofGlobalTerrorism1985-2005：U.S.DepartmentofStateReportswithSupplementaryDocumentsandStatistics》第986页（3905字）

Anna Sabasteanski

This set of graphs illustrates incidents, injuries and fatalities for the following types of targets, for the years 1968-2004, plus data for January-July 2005: Abortion-related; Airports and Airlines; Business; Diplomatic; Educational Institutions; Food and Water Supply; Government; Journalists and Media; Maritime; Military; Non-Governmental Organizations; Other Targets; Police-Related; Private Citizens and Property; Religious Figures or Institutions; Telecommunications; Terrorists; Tourists; Transportation; Unknown; and Utilities. In addition, a comparison graph illustrates the relative numbers of attacks against business, diplomatic, government, military, and other facilities from 1989-2003. (The 1968-1997 data covers only international incidents while 1998-present includes domestic incidents as well.)

Although the military is still targeted, particularly during times of war, terrorists from 1968 to the present have turned increasingly to softer targets. Airlines and airports were highprofile targets in the 1970s and 1980s, when incidents of mass casualties raised the profile of, in particular, Palestinian and Sikh nationalist groups. International security measures greatly reduced their impact until the dramatic use of planes as weapons in the 9/11 attacks. From 1968 to 2004, 796 attacks involved airports and airlines, and 847 involved other transportation targets.These caused 4,581 and 13,436 casualties, respectively. The highest level of casualties was the 1995 Aum Shrinrikyo sarin nerve gas attack on the Tokyo subway system (12 deaths, 5,000 injuries).

Attacks against private citizens and properties remained at low levels until the late 1990s. In the 27 years from 1968 to 1994, there were 225 incidents causing 2,090 injuries and 490 deaths (an average of 8 incidents causing 96 casualties per year). In the ten years from 1995 to 2004, there were 3,289 incidents (one a day) causing 10,882 injuries and killing 4,789. Between January and July of 2005, there have been 527 attacks causing 1,140 injuries and killing 509—the largest group targeted.

Businesses face the second most frequent number of attacks. Between 1968 and 2004 they were targeted 3,145 times, incurring 14,696 casualties. In the 27 years from 1968-1994, there were 1575 incidents causing 3,908 injuries and 703 deaths (an average of 58 incidents and about 170 casualties per year). In the ten years from 1996 to 2004, there were 1,570 incidents (an average of 157 per year) causing 7,643 injuries and killing 4,118 (an average of 1,176 casualties per year). From January to August of 2005 there have been 169 attacks, injuring 684 and killing 234.

Table developed in part from data retrieved from the MIPT errorism Knowledge Base in September 2005.

Governments were targeted 2,844 times between 1968 and 2004, with 6,380 injuries and 2,901 fatalities while the 2,602 attacks directed against diplomatic targets injured 8,290 and killed 1,237. Attacks against other soft targets emerged in the early 1990s, and have grown rapidly since the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in 2003.

Comparative facility data was taken from annual Patterns of Global Terrorism. Specific detail is not available for earlier years, although the general trends are discussed in the annual regional overviews and country reports. Specific category data is retrieved from the National Counterterrorism Center’s (NCTC) Worldwide Incidents Tracking System (WITS) and the MIPT Terrorism Knowledge Base that integrates data from the RAND Terrorism Chronology and RAND-MIPT Terrorism Incident databases. NCTC’s methodology is described in full at its website: http://www.tkb.org/NCTC Methodology.jsp.