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According to the Global Terrorism Index 2024, Islamic State (IS) and its affiliates was the deadliest terrorist group operating in 2022. Also known as ISIS and Daesh, the Islamic State was named the most destructive terror group globally for the eighth consecutive year, recording the most attacks and deaths of any group in 2022. In 2023, their activity decreased significantly.
Formed in the mid-2000s, Somalia-based al-Shabaab's catalog of atrocities includes the August 2022 attack on the Hayat Hotel in Mogadishu. The death toll from the devastating 30-hour siege was at least 20. Their deadliest attack in 2023 occurred at Shabeellah Hoose, Somalia, resulting in the deaths of 54 African Union army soldiers.
The BLA operates mainly in Balochistan, Pakistan's largest province, where it carries out attacks against the Pakistan Armed Forces, civilians, and foreign nationals. Pictured are three handcuffed suspects of the banned organization.
Boko Haram is an Islamist militant organization based in northeastern Nigeria. In the mid-2010s, Boko Harem topped the Global Terrorism Index as a result of the group killing tens of thousands of people, in frequent attacks against the police, armed forces, and civilians, hundreds of them children. Here, a man points at bullet holes at the Government Science Secondary School in Kankara, in northwestern Katsina State on December 16, 2020. Earlier, Boko Haram had abducted hundreds of students from the educational facility.
Al-Qaeda was founded in Peshawar, Pakistan, in 1988 by, among others, Osama bin Laden, Muhammad Atef, and Ayman al-Zawahiri. Soon afterwards, it began recruiting Islamic militants to its ranks and training them at secret camps.
The Taliban emerged in 1994 as a militant Pashtun nationalist organization in Afghanistan. The group has been internationally condemned for its harsh enforcement of their interpretation of Islamic Sharia law, and for restricting human rights in Afghanistan, including the right of women and girls to work and to have an education. And like ISIS, the Taliban are also responsible for committing cultural genocide by destroying historical and cultural texts, artifacts, and sculptures.
Founded in 1985, Hezbollah is a Lebanese Shia Islamist political party and militant group. According to the US State Department, Iran provides most of Hezbollah's training, weapons, and funding, sending the group hundreds of millions of dollars each year.
Colombia's Marxist–Leninist guerrilla insurgency group known as the National Liberation Army (NLA) has been operational in the country since 1964.
The Palestinian Islamist paramilitary organization known as Palestinian Islamic Jihad was formed in 1981, originally as an offshoot of the Muslim Brotherhood. Pictured is graffiti showing the logo of the movement.
Shining Path (in Spanish Sendero Luminoso) is a far-left political party and guerrilla group in Peru. Established in 1969, Shining Path's original goal was to overthrow the government through guerrilla warfare and replace it with a "new democracy."
The al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigade emerged in 2000 as a loosely-organized armed wing of Yasser Arafat's Fatah faction in the West Bank. Its goal was to drive the Israeli military and Israeli settlers from the West Bank and establish a Palestinian state loyal to Fatah.
The al-Ashtar Brigades is the military arm of the al-Wafa Islamic movement, an Iranian-backed Shia militant group established in 2013 with the aim of overthrowing the ruling Sunni family in Bahrain. The group has since claimed responsibility for over 20 attacks in Bahrain, including an assault in Manama in 2017 in which a security officer was killed.
Islamic State is also known for its cultural vandalism. In 2017, it destroyed one of the most famous monuments in the ancient city of Palmyra in Syria, the Tetrapylon, and the facade of its Roman Theater. In 2015, the Temple of Bel-Shamin was blown up.
Jama'at Nasr al-Islam wal-Muslimin attacks include the March 2021 raid on a United Nations camp in Northern Mali. However, their deadliest attack occurred in November, 2023, when gunmen ambushed military personnel in Tillaberi, Niger. A total of 200 casualties were reported.
On July 6, 2022, gunmen from Islamic State–West Africa Province, a breakaway faction of Boko Haram, attacked the Kuje Medium Prison in Abuja, Nigeria. Over 800 prison inmates escaped during the assault, including about 60 Boko Haram members.
Hamas has long waged an armed campaign against the state of Israel, which has included bombings against civilian targets and indiscriminate rocket attacks. On October 7, 2023, Hamas launched an assault from the Gaza Strip into Israeli territory, killing more than 1,400 Israelis in the deadliest attack by Palestinian militants since the foundation of Israel in 1948.
After the withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021 by coalition forces and the subsequent takeover of the country by the Taliban, fears are again being raised about whether the country is becoming a safe haven for terrorists. In this photograph taken on September 13, 2022, newly recruited Taliban fighters parade in armored vehicles after their graduation ceremony in Herat.
Hezbollah has in the past denounced certain terrorist attacks on civilians, but has also remained silent regarding others. As of October 2020, Hezbollah or its military wing are considered terrorist organizations by at least 26 countries, as well as by the European Union and since 2017 by most member states of the Arab League. Pictured are Lebanese Hezbollah fighters marching near portraits of Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei (left), founder of Iran's Islamic Republic Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, and Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah.
One of the NLA's most notorious attacks was the January 17, 2019, truck bombing at the General Santander National Police Academy in Bogotá, which killed 21 people. Canada, the United States, and the European Union, together with the government of Colombia, classify the NLA as a terrorist organization.
The PFLP gained notoriety in the late 1960s and early 1970s for a series of armed attacks and aircraft hijackings. The organization has since been responsible for numerous attacks on both military and civilian targets, most of them inside Israel.
Shining Path's founder was Abimael Guzman (pictured in jail in September 1992). He and his party were widely condemned for overt acts of brutality, including violence deployed against peasants, trade union organizers, competing Marxist groups, elected officials, and the general public. Several countries today regard Shining Path as a terrorist organization.
In attempts to achieve this, the brigade targeted Israeli military personnel and settlers, and later civilians inside Israel. Its largest attack was in November 2012, when it fired more than 500 rockets into Israel during Israeli military operations in Gaza.
Political unrest in Bahrain has long since compounded the threat posed by the brigade. Pictured in 2011 are hundreds of Bahraini pro-government supporters gathered near the Al-Fateh mosque as angry Shiites buried the dead of a violent police raid on anti-regime protesters.
Sources: (Global Terrorism Index) (National Geographic) (Premium Times) (Council on Foreign Relations) (United States Institute of Peace)
See also: The US government has already planned for the worst
Hamas ranks second on the Global Terrorism Index 2024 list. It is a Palestinian Sunni Islamist political and military organization governing the Gaza Strip. The United States, the United Kingdom, and the European Union have designated Hamas a terrorist organization because of its armed resistance against Israel.
Fourth on the Global Terrorism Index 2024 list was the Sunni Islamist military and political organization known as al-Shabaab.
Afghanistan-based Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA) is one of the deadliest terrorist groups in Pakistan, with 110 attacks in 2023.
Jama'at Nasr al-Islam wal-Muslimin (JNIM) operates as a militant jihadist organization. It ranked third on the Global Terrorism Index 2024 list. It was responsible for a total of 112 attacks and over 1099 recorded deaths. The actual numbers may be more than documented.
Terrorist attacks ascribed to al-Qaeda include the bombings of the US embassies in Nairobi, Kenya, and Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, in 1998, and the devastating 9/11 attacks.
Palestinian Islamic Jihad began its campaign of terror in 1987 and has since been responsible for dozens of attacks on Israeli territory, including car and bus bombings.
The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) was founded in 1967 by George Habash. The military wing of the PFLP is called the Abu Ali Mustapha Brigades.
The Global Terrorism Index provides a comprehensive summary of the key global trends and patterns in terrorism over the last decade. Produced by the Institute for Economics & Peace, the report considers not only deaths but also incidents, hostages, and injuries from terrorism. It also names the top four deadliest terrorist groups operating around the world. In a wider context, many terrorist organizations are familiar to us, their violent actions reported widely and often by the media. Others, however, are more obscure, but no less deadly in their aims.
So, what are the most dangerous terrorist groups in the world? Click through and be warned.
The most dangerous terrorist groups in the world
These are the organizations that use intentional violence and fear to achieve political or ideological aims
LIFESTYLE Terrorism
The Global Terrorism Index provides a comprehensive summary of the key global trends and patterns in terrorism over the last decade. Produced by the Institute for Economics & Peace, the report considers not only deaths but also incidents, hostages, and injuries from terrorism. It also names the top four deadliest terrorist groups operating around the world. In a wider context, many terrorist organizations are familiar to us, their violent actions reported widely and often by the media. Others, however, are more obscure, but no less deadly in their aims.
So, what are the most dangerous terrorist groups in the world? Click through and be warned.