Jihadist Violence Claims More Than 5,000 Lives in November

By Staff Reporter - 11 Dec '14 09:09AM

A new study by BBC reveals that jihadist violence has claimed more than 5,000 lives in 664 attacks worldwide in the month of November.

The investigation was conducted in co-ordination with the International Centre for the Study of radicalisation (ICSR) and total 14 countries were considered in the study.

Peter Neumann, director at the ICSR at Kings College London, said: "First and foremost, our data highlights the significant human cost of jihadism. In just one month, jihadist groups killed 5,042 people - the equivalent of three attacks on the scale of the London bombings in July 2005 each day."

The countries that were hit the hardest are Iraq, Nigeria, Afghanistan and Syria. The four countries accounted for 80 percent of the total number of deaths.

According to the study, Islamic State was named the deadliest terrorist group that carried out 308 attacks across Iraq and Syria. The attacks launched by the IS, which was earlier known as the Islamic State in Iraq and Levant (ISIL), killed as many as 2,206 people - which is 44 percent of the total death toll.

The study has held responsible 16 jihadist groups, Daily Mail reports.

"The data makes it clear that jihadists and al Qaeda are no longer one and the same. Sixty per cent of jihadist deaths were caused by groups that have no formal association with al Qaeda, and they are the ones who will vie for leadership of the movement," Neumann said.

According to the study, a daily average of 22 attacks took place in November, while killing 168 people.

Iraq topped the charts being the single deadliest country. Nigeria followed with Boko Haram being blamed for the casualtie sin the country.

"The overall picture is that of an increasingly ambitious, complex, sophisticated and far-reaching movement. Though comparisons are difficult, it seems obvious that the jihadist movement - which, only three years ago, everyone expected to be in a state of terminal decline - are stronger than ever, and that countering them will be a generational challenge," Neumann added.