A security officer from Doorbin Hotel assesses the debris after a suicide car explosion in front of the hotel in Mogadishu, Somalia February 24, 2018. REUTERS/Feisal Omar

Paris - Asharq Al-Awsat

The Global Terrorism Index 2018 published by the Institute of Economics and Peace showed that the total number of deaths decreased by 27 per cent in 2017.

Western Europe recorded a marked fall of 52 percent in terrorism. This trend has continued into 2018 with only eight deaths being recorded to October 2018.

Military defeats of ISIS are seen as the main reasons why there was a significant drop in deaths related to terrorism, said Steve Killelea, Executive Chairman of the Institute of Economics and Peace.

The GTI showed that five countries including Afghanistan, Iraq, Nigeria, Somalia and Syria recorded more than 1,000 deaths, while 19 countries recorded more than 100 deaths.

Afghanistan recorded the highest number of terrorism deaths in 2017, replacing Iraq.

The index also showed that the number of deaths from terrorist attacks attributed to ISIS fell by 52 per cent in 2017.

The bloodiest terrorist attack last year was in Somalia when Shabaab militants killed 587 people in a car bombing targeting a hotel.

The second bloodiest attack was in Egypt, when ISIS militants attacked a mosque in Sinai province, leaving 311 people dead.

The report also said that far-right political terrorism is on the rise in North America and Western Europe.

Right-wing terrorism killed 17 people globally in 2017, it added.