Newswise — The fatal Oklahoma City bombing 15 years ago (April 19), marked the beginning of a dramatic increase in U.S. terrorism launched by individuals rather than organized groups, concludes new research from the University of Maryland.
Since Timothy McVeigh’s fatal bombing of the Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City in 1995, individual attacks have increased nearly seven-fold, representing about one-third of all U.S. acts of terror, says a new report from the Maryland-based START Center, the National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism.
“Background Report: On the 15th Anniversary of the Oklahoma City Bombing,” also notes that the bombing coincided with the increase in fatalities associated with terror attacks. More people died in Oklahoma City, 168, than in any other U.S. terror attack to that time. Domestically, the bombing remains second only to the fatalities on 9/11.
In 1995, the McVeigh bombing was the 25th most deadly attack in the world since 1970. But with mounting terrorism fatalities, Oklahoma City now ranks as the 52nd deadliest attack internationally.
McVeigh espoused far right anti-government views, says the START report, but it notes that domestic U.S. terrorism has been launched from all parts of the political spectrum representing a broad range of ideologies.
Post-1995, ecoterrorist organizations, like the Earth Liberation Front and Animal Liberation Front, have been the most active types of terrorist organizations in the United States, though not the most deadly – al Qaeda claims that distinction. But far-right extremists have continued to be involved in a range of violent attacks, many of which target law enforcement.
Since 1990, 49 law enforcement officers have been killed in attacks attributed to the far right. The greatest number of these homicides in a single year – six – occurred in 1995 and in 2009.
The report relies heavily on data from START’s Global Terrorism Database, the world’s most comprehensive unclassified terror database, including roughly 85,000 incidents worldwide from 1970 to 2007.
COPY OF THE REPORT:
The report is available online: http://www.start.umd.edu/start/announcements/2010April_Oklahoma%20City%20anniversary_FINAL.pdf
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