International terrorist incidents declined slightly from 412 in 1984 to 408 in 1985, according to Inter 85, the latest review of international terrorism just published by the Tel Aviv University Jaffee Center for Strategic Studies.
However, the project’s definition of international terrorism is likely to cause some controversy. The researchers chose to exclude attacks carried out by a dissident or guerrilla group on its home territory against any foreign or outside force. The report does not cover incidents against Soviet troops in Afghanistan, American troops in Latin America or Israel Defense Force units in south Lebanon.
The Review also does not cover activities of the Irish Republican Army (IRA) against British or Northern Ireland forces in Ulster, or activities carried out by the Jewish Defense League (JDL) against Arabs in the U.S., on the grounds that these were acts of American Jews against American Arabs.
THE MOST COMMON TERRORIST TACTIC
The 1985 review says that the most common terrorist tactic last year, as in 1984, was bombing and arson, accounting for 40 percent of all terrorist incidents. Armed assaults, including murder, constituted 20.6 percent (32.2 percent in 1984), followed, in order of frequency, by abductions, 13.2 percent, and aircraft and ship hijacking, 2.2 percent (including the Achille Lauro incident).
Western Europe was the arena in which 44.7 percent of all international terrorist incidents took place in 1985 (as against 40.5 percent in 1984). It was followed by Latin America, with 19.8 percent, and the Middle East, 17.2 percent.
SOME 60 NATIONS INVOLVED
All told, some 60 nations were involved in incidents during 1985, but about two-thirds of all incidents (63.8 percent) took place in only 13 countries. Lebanon led the list of national arenas, with 11.5 percent of all incidents, followed by West Germany, 8.5 percent; and Colombia and Greece, 7.1 percent each.
Just over 70 percent of all attacks were directed against persons or facilities of a nationality different from that of the terrorists. Diplomats were the targets of 19.6 percent of all incidents.
The number of casualties rose from 16 percent of all incidents in 1984 to 20.1 percent in 1985. A total of 639 persons were killed (including 321 in the Air India explosion) and 833 were injured, for a casualty total of 1,472, compared to 349 killed in 1984.
64 ORGANIZATIONS ACTIVE
A total of 64 different organizations were active during 1985 on the international terrorist scene, but about half of all incidents were carried out by a dozen or so organizations.
The most active European groups in 1985 were the Red Army Faction and the Revolutionary Cells in West Germany. In Latin America, the most active groups internationally were the Chilean Manuel Rodrigues Patriotic Front and the Colombian National Liberation Front.
Incidents that featured evidence of direct complicity by sovereign states involved assassinations and attempted assassinations of dissidents. These accounted for 7.6 percent of all international terrorist incidents in 1985, with Libya and Iran the most frequent perpetrators, the Inter 85 report says.
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