Bangladesh is among 13 countries facing a greater risk of substantial terrorist activity, said the Institute for Economics and Peace (IEP).


The non-profit think tank, in its Global Terrorism Index (GTI), showed that Bangladesh scoring 5.25 ranked 23 among 162 countries .


The other countries posing risk to high terrorism are: Angola, Burundi, Central African Republic, Cote d’Ivoire, Ethiopia, Iran, Israel, Mali, Mexico, Myanmar, Sri Lanka and Uganda.


It said that there were almost 10,000 terrorist attacks recorded in 2013 representing a 44% increase in 2012 , resulting in nearly 18,000 deaths representing a 61% increase from the previous year . Twenty-four countries experienced more than 50 deaths in 2013, increasing 60% from 15 in 2012.


Terrorism in 2013 was dominated by four organizations -- ISIL , Boko Haram , al Qa’ida and the Taliban, collectively responsible for 66 % of all fatalities . Over 80% of the deaths from terrorist incidents in 2013 were recorded in just five countries-- Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Nigeria and Syria.


Iraq continues to be the country most impacted by terrorism. The number of fatalities in the country rose 164% to 6,362 – the largest increase in the index.


One of the most important findings in this report is that there is not a strong statistical link between poverty and terrorism.  Many people who join terrorist groups in wealthy countries are well educated and come from middle class families.


The GTI, prepared based on measuring various political, violence and group relationship indicators, also mentioned that there are currently low levels of terrorist activity in the 13 countries.


Political terror refers to human and physical rights abuses as measured by Amnesty International and the US State Department. This includes violations of human rights, state-sanctioned killings, torture and political imprisonment. Intergroup cohesion refers to relations of cooperation and respect between identity groups within a society.


A breakdown of this social fabric increases the risk of violent conflict between groups within a country. Importantly, poverty and other development indicators do not show strong relationships to high levels of terrorism.


By analysing the countries that are in a state of peace but have high levels of political terror and low levels of intergroup cohesion it is possible to identify countries that have the risk of increased terrorist activity.

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