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The US State Department announced Tuesday that according to a corrected report on war against terrorism, "significant" acts of terror worldwide reached a 21-year high in 2003.
J. Cofer Black, who heads the department's counter-terrorism office, admitted that there were 175 "significant events" of terror last year, and the total was the highest since 1982.
According to the revised report, acts of terror worldwide increased slightly last year and the number of people wounded rose dramatically.
Black said that Muslim fundamentalists were responsible for most terror incidents.
Black added that half of the total casualties were in eleven incidents in seven countries and all were the result of Islamic extremist terrorists.
Black highlighted a decline in the number of people killed, from 725 in 2002 to 625 in 2003.
The initial report was released on April 28, but was soon accused of quoting wrong numbers and being used to bolster President George W. Bush's war on terror. For instance, the report said that 307 people had been killed in terror acts last year, compared with 625 in the revised report.
On June 10, the State Department acknowledged the findings were inaccurate and attributed the errors partly to a new data system, but not deliberate deception.
(Xinhua News Agency June 23, 2004)
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