Total International Terrorist Attacks

(1981-2003)

In past years, serious violence by Palestinians against other Palestinians in the occupied territories was included in the database of worldwide international terrorist incidents because Palestinians are considered stateless people. This resulted in such incidents being treated differently from intraethnic violence in other parts of the world. In 1989, as a result of further review of the nature of intra-Palestinian violence, such violence stopped being included in the U.S. Government’s statistical database on international terrorism. The figures shown above for the years 1984 through 1988 have been revised to exclude intra-Palestinian violence, thus making the database consistent.

Investigations into terrorist incidents sometimes yield evidence that necessitates a change in the information previously held true (such as whether the incident fits the definition of international terrorism, which group or state sponsor was responsible, or the number of victims killed or injured). As as result of these adjustments, the statistics given in this report may vary slightly from numbers cited in previous reports.

Total International Terrorist Attacks 1981-2003 Listed by Year

Source: Patterns of Global Terrorism 2003, U.S. State Department