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Approved For Release 2000/08/07 : CIA-RDP96-00788R000100330001-5 SPECIAL EDITION -- TERRORISM -- 26 JUNE 1984 ISSN: 0364-9008 WORLD: OT2 Page 1 Defense & Economy No.899 World Report and Survey Issue 20, 14 May 1984 PATTERNS OF INTERNATIONAL TERRORISM: 1982 international terrorism continued as a seri- ous problem in 1982. In particular, the volatile situation in the Middle East, the instability in Centra! America, and the in- tensifying opposition to US and NATO policies in Western Europe generated sig- nificant terrorist activity. In many cases, subnational groups seeking political change were responsible. In addition, some states— particularly in the Middle East—continued to conduct or sponsor terrorism as a means of achieving national policy objectives. On the positive side, major counterterrorism successes in Italy and West Germany markedly reduced —at feast for the short term—both the capabili- ties and the activities of two major leftist West European terrorist groups—the Red Brigades (BR) and the Red Army Faction (RAF). The Year in Brief In 1982 we recorded 794 international terrorist incidents,' the second-highest an- nual total since we began keeping records in 1968.? Nearly one-third of the total num- ber of incidents, however, were threats that for one reason or another were never put into action, The number of actual recorded terrorist attacks— bombings, kid- napings, assassinations, hostage takings, and the like—was 8 percent lower than the previous year. In 1982, as in most years, international terrorist actions against Americans remained high, nearly equaling the previous high recorded in 1978. ' Because of the nature of terrorism, many de- tails involving international terrorist incidents in- evitably escape our attention. Our data tend to emphasize incidents involving US citizens and tacilities. For these reasons, the statistics in this report should be regarded as approximations chiefly usetul in determining leveis of magnitude and configurations of activity. ? The largest number of recorded incidents (838), which occurred in 1978, was dispropor- tionately high because of the violence accompa- nying the franian revolution and the deposal of the Shah. Types of Attacks. International terrorists continued to utilize a wide variety of meth- ods to achieve their goals, but bombings were the most common, accounting for 42 percent of the total number of incidents last year. The number of kidnapings in- creased over the previous year, while the number of hostage takings, armed attacks, and assassinations declined. Even so, the pattern of killings remained a serious prob- lem. At least 140 people were killed last year as a direct result of international terrorist actions, bringing to more than 3,500 the total number killed since the beginning of 1973. Types of Victims. Diplomats were the primary target, accounting for 54 percent of all victims last year. This was largely because of the continuing practice by cer- tain states of sponsoring terrorist attacks against official representatives of adver- sary countries. Corporate officials— mostly Americans in Latin America—and military personnel accounted for another 31 per- cent of the victims. As in.past years US citizens were the primary target of international terrorists. Of the total number of incidents in 1982 in- volving individuals, nearly half were against US nationals (tabie 1). Other countries whose citizens were often victims included Turkey, Israel, France, Yugoslavia, and West Germany. Less than 2 percent in- volved Soviet nationals. The 954 casualties produced by terrorist incidents during 1982 were slightly fewer than the 1,009 recorded in 1981, and substantially fewer than the 1,709 record-: ed in 1980. The 140 recorded deaths is the lowest figure for any year since 1973. 63 Approved For Release 2000/08/07 : CIA-RDP96-00788R000100330001-5