WASHINGTON - The U.S. State Department says both the number of terrorist attacks worldwide and their victims soared last year.In its annual global survey of terrorism released Monday, the State Department says about 14,000 terror attacks occurred in 2006, a rise of 25 percent over the previous year. More than 20,000 people were killed, a jump of 40 percent.

The numbers, compiled by the National Counterterrorism Center, refer to deaths of non-combatants.

Senior State Department officials say countries in the Middle East and South Asia accounted for about 80 percent of global terrorist attacks. At the same time, they add that the number of incidents in the rest of the world remained relatively flat.

The report says nearly half of the attacks occurred in Iraq. Iraq also accounted for two-thirds of the total fatalities with 13,000 people killed.

The report adds that al-Qaida operatives in East Africa, particularly Somalia, continued to pose the most serious threat to American and allied interests in the region.

The U.S. government has designated Cuba, Iran, North Korea, Sudan and Syria as governments that support terrorism.

Source:  VOA News