Terrorist attacks increase sharply in 2013, study says

LONDON - A new global study says there were nearly 10,000 terrorist attacks in 2013, 44 percent more than the year before.

The London-based Institute for Economics and Peace says those attacks in 2013 resulted in nearly 18,000 deaths.

Its Global Terrorism Index reported four groups dominated the attacks - the Islamic State group, Boko Haram, al-Qaida and the Taliban - and were responsible for 66 percent of the fatalities.

It said Iraq was the country most affected by terrorism, with 2,492 attacks that killed more than 6,300 people. It said the Islamic State group was responsible for "most" of the deaths in the country.

The report said more than 80 percent of the deaths from terrorist incidents were in Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Nigeria and Syria.