War on Terror: Al-Qaida Gaining Strength

The Bush Administration announced on April 30, 2008, key statistic related to the War on Terror:

US Report Says al-Qaida Gaining Strength

Looking beyond the headline there are four key facts that everyone should pay close attention to:

• More than 22,000 people were killed by terrorists around the world in 2007
• Attacks in Iraq dipped slightly between 2006 and 2007, but they still accounted for 60 percent of worldwide terrorism fatalities
• About 13,600 noncombatants were killed in 2007 in Iraq, the report says, adding the high number could be attributed to a 50 percent increase in the number of suicide bombings
• The report identifies Iran as the world's "most active" state sponsor of terrorism for supporting Palestinian extremists and insurgents in Afghanistan and Iraq, where it says elements of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps continued to give militants weapons, training and funding