Al Qaeda, cohorts remain worst terrorism threat: U.S.

By Paul Eckert

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Nearly seven years after the September 11 attacks, al Qaeda remains the biggest terrorist threat to the United States and its allies, the U.S. State Department said in an annual report on Wednesday.

The survey of terrorist trends and incidents in 2007 said al Qaeda had used tribal areas of Pakistan to rebuild its leadership and replace killed or captured fighters, and has forged regional alliances with militants in Africa.

Al Qaeda "utilizes terrorism, as well as subversion, propaganda, and open warfare; it seeks weapons of mass destruction in order to inflict the maximum possible damage on anyone who stands in its way, including other Muslims and/or elders, women and children," said the report.

The number of terrorist attacks worldwide fell slightly in 2007 to 14,499, from 14,570 in 2006. But the number of people killed in the attacks rose to 22,685, from 20,872 in the previous year, the U.S. National Counterterrorism Center said.

Attacks for which al Qaeda claimed responsibility killed or wounded 5,400 civilians, including 2,400 children, and Muslims accounted for more than 50 percent of al Qaeda victims, the center's data showed.

In Iraq, terrorist incidents fell to 6,212 last year from 6,628 in 2006. But Iraq still accounted for 45 percent of all terrorist attacks and 60 percent of all fatalities worldwide in 2007, the data showed.

Attacks in Afghanistan rose to 1,127 from 969 in the previous year, the center said. Neighboring Pakistan saw a year-on-year 100 percent increase in terrorist attacks in 2007, it said.

Dell Dailey, coordinator of the State Department Office for Counterterrorism, said al Qaeda was "weaker now than it was" when it carried out the September 11 attacks -- the result of United Nations and other multilateral anti-terrorist efforts as well as rising awareness among target countries.