Afghan, Pak, Iraq major victims of terror attacks: US

Three countries including Afghanistan, Pakistan and Iraq have been accounted for majority of the terrorist attacks, fatalities and injuries during 2012, an annual official US report of terrorism said.
Though, the US State Department Country Reports on Terrorism-2012, which was submitted to the US Congress yesterday, revealed that the core of al-Qaeda has weakened in Pakistan.
"Although terrorist attacks occurred in 85 different countries in 2012, they were heavily concentrated geographically.
As in recent years, over half of all attacks (55 per cent), fatalities (62 per cent), and injuries (65 per cent) occurred in just three countries: Pakistan, Iraq, and Afghanistan," it said.

"Although we have seriously degraded the al-Qaeda core in Afghanistan and Pakistan, still it has the ability to plan and conduct attacks from its safe havens.
"The al-Qaeda core in Pakistan continued to weaken. As a result of leadership losses, the AQ core's ability to direct activities and attacks has diminished, as its leaders focus increasingly on survival," said the report.

According to the report, the al-Qaeda core, under the direction of Ayman al-Zawahiri, has been significantly degraded as a result of ongoing worldwide efforts against the organisation.
"Osama bin Laden's death was the most important milestone in the fight against al-Qaeda , but there have been other successes- dozens of senior al-Qaeda leaders have been removed from the fight in the Afghanistan-Pakistan region," it said.

"Ilyas Kashmiri, one of the most capable al-Qaeda operatives in South Asia, and Atiya Abdul Rahman, al-Qaeda's second-in-command, were killed in Pakistan in 2011.
Al-Qaeda leaders Abu Yahya Al-Libi and Abu Zaid al-Kuwaiti were killed in 2012, the report said.
Leadership losses have also driven al-Qaeda affiliates to become more independent, it said, adding that, the affiliates are increasingly setting their own goals and specifying their own targets.
"As avenues previously open to them for receiving and sending funds have become more difficult to access, several affiliates have engaged in kidnapping for ransom.
Through these operations and other criminal activities, the affiliates have also increased their financial independence," the report said.

"While al-Qaeda affiliates still seek to attack the "far enemy," they seem more inclined to focus on smaller scale attacks closer to their home base.