Terrorist Attacks Spiked in '06

Terrorist attacks rose 25 percent in 2006, with much of the rise attributable to Iraq, according to a State Department report released today. Terrorism claimed over 20,000 lives in 2006—two-thirds of those in Iraq—up sharply from 2005, raising doubts about the short-term success of the continued War on Terror.

Iran earned a dubious spot on the list as the "most active state sponsor of terror." The other real horror story was Africa, where attacks in Sudan and Nigeria caused a 65 percent jump in the number of attacks. Terrorists also adopted increasingly deadly tactics, including the use of chemical weapons, especially in Iraq and Afghanistan.