Non-state Terror Attacks, January 1, 2013 – November 14, 2015

Note: I didn’t pull this piece together.  It was created by Michael Dickel and is posted here with his permission.  Michael’s most recent poetry collection, the chapbook War Surrounds Us (Is a Rose Press, 2015), is a moving collection, a cry for peace as is this feature.  My piece, The Poet As Witness: “War Surrounds Us,” an interview with American-Israeli Poet Michael Dickel, is HERE. J.D.

Using a Wikipedia list, even with all of its faults, provides a sobering view of terror in the world. The countries listed below were the sites of at least one and often several terror attacks in the last (almost) three years. Some of those attacks resulted only in injuries, most caused one or more death—victims and / or perpetrators. Many attacks killed dozens of people. A few, one-hundred or more. Not all of the perpetrators are from Islamic groups—many come from other “political, religious, or ideological” motivations. According to the Wikipedia site, the list of attacks that I used to find the countries:

…is a list of non-state terrorist incidents that have not been carried out by a state or its forces (see state terrorism and state-sponsored terrorism). Assassinations are listed at List of assassinated people.

Definitions of terrorism vary, so incidents listed here are restricted to those that:

• are not approved by the legitimate authority of a recognized state
• are illegally perpetrated against people or property
• are done to further political, religious, or ideological objectives

Comments on the Wikipedia listing indicate that it is incomplete and may be biased. Still, I found 56 countries on the list for the three years I looked at, and I remembered the larger attacks from news reports. If it is incomplete, there could be more countries. If it is biased, there could be other countries, as well.

This list should give us all pause—not only for our world, but for the children growing up exposed to this global level of war. This is their normal world. They are at risk on so many levels. As adults, we must stop and remember the children. And we must find just solutions to the underlying causes of this violence that literally reaches every corner of the earth. 

Non-State Terror Attacks:
Jan 1, 2013–Nov 14, 2015

1. Afghanistan
2. Algeria
3. Australia
4. Bahrain
5. Bangladesh
6. Belgium
7. Bosnia and Herzegovina
8. Cameroon
9. Canada
10. Central African Republic
11. Chad
12. China
13. Columbia
14. Denmark
15. Djibouti
16. Egypt
17. Ethiopia
18. France
19. Germany
20. India
21. Indonesia
22. Iraq
23. Israel
24. Italy
25. Japan
26. Kenya
27. Kosovo
28. Kuwait
29. Lebanon
30. Libya
31. Macedonia
32. Madagascar
33. Malaysia
34. Mali
35. Mozambique
36. Niger
37. Nigeria
38. Norway
39. Northern Ireland
40. Pakistan
41. Philippines
42. Russia
43. Saudi Arabia
44. Somalia
45. South Korea
46. South Sudan
47. Syria
48. Tanzania
49. Thailand
50. Tunisia
51. Tunisia
52. Turkey
53. Ukraine
54. United Kingdom
55. United States
56. Yemen

—Source