South Asia becomes centre of violence

WASHINGTON - Increases in terror attacks in Pakistan and Afghanistan triggered a spike in the number of civilians killed or wounded there last year and pushed South Asia past the Middle East as the top terror region in the world, according to figures compiled by a United States intelligence agency.

Thousands of civilians - overwhelmingly Muslim - continue to be slaughtered in extremist attacks, contributing to the instability of the often shaky, poverty-stricken governments in the region, the statistics compiled by the National Counterterrorism Centre show.

"The numbers, to a certain extent, are a reflection of where the enemy is re-gathering," said Juan Zarate, a top counterterror official in the Bush Administration who is now senior adviser at the Centre for Strategic and International Studies.

"So, to the extent we are seeing more attacks in Afghanistan and Pakistan, it's a reflection of resistance to US policy and presence as well as a strategic shift by groups like al Qaeda and foreign jihadis to concentrate where they think they will be most effective."

United States intelligence officials said the 2009 totals - they do not include attacks on the military - offered one glimmer of hope: terror attacks in Pakistan were growing substantially early in 2009, but levelled out towards the end of the year, as Pakistani forces stepped up their assaults on militant strongholds along the border.

The rise in violence in South Asia was offset by a continued decline in attacks in Iraq, leading to an overall decrease in terrorism worldwide last year, compared with 2008.

In Iraq, the number of attacks fell by nearly a third from 2008 to 2009.

But even beyond South Asia, the overall picture of terrorism last year underscored new threats in Somalia and Yemen, where insurgents have gained strongholds in vast lawless stretches.

While there are varied reasons for the terror trends, they partly reflect policy decisions by the Bush and Obama administrations to pull out of the gradually improving situation in Iraq, and focus military and diplomatic efforts on Afghanistan and Pakistan.

The increased military pressure in Pakistan, experts say, has helped disrupt al Qaeda and Taleban groups. But in Afghanistan it has fuelled the insurgency, spawning increased attacks against the citizens.

Nearly 7000 civilians were killed and injured in Afghanistan terror attacks last year, a 44 per cent increase over 2008. In Pakistan, more than 8600 were killed and wounded.

- AP