With a figure of 310 terrorist incidents resulting in 1135 deaths and 496 injuries, a report published by the Institute for Economics and Peace (IEP) has revealed that Burkina Faso is the first country in Africa and the second country in the world most affected by terrorism in 2022.
With 310 terrorist incidents in 2022 compared to 224 in 2021, Burkina is the second most affected country in the world. Afghanistan is ranked first in the world, followed by Somalia, Mali, and Syria in 3rd, 4th, and 5th place respectively among the countries most affected by terrorism.
Nevertheless, according to the Global Terrorism Index, terrorist attacks worldwide have decreased in 2022 for the first time since 2019, with a 28% decrease compared to 2021. Thus, the total number of deaths due to terrorism in the world has also dropped by almost 9% compared to 2021 from 7328 to 6701 deaths.
Most terrorist attacks are perpetrated by the Islamic State, the Shebabs, the Islamic and Muslim Support Group, and the Balochistan Liberation Front in West Pakistan.
According to the same study, civilians are the target of terrorists with 642 deaths or more than 57% of all deaths. This represents an increase of 29% compared to 2021 when 497 civilians lost their lives.