A s many as 34 terrorist attacks including bombings and assassinations took place in Africa in July this year, down by 5.5 percent from June, said Egypt’s Al-Azhar Observatory for Combating Extremism in a Tuesday report, adding that East Africa and the Horn of Africa accounted for 47.1 percent of the tally.
Terrorist attacks in July claimed 254 lives, left 126 people injured and two others kidnapped, the observatory said.
East Africa and the Horn of Africa came first among African regions in the number of terrorist attacks in July, accounting for 47.1 percent, while the troubled Sahel region came first in the number of victims.
West Africa, which faces expanding activity of the Islamic State (IS) and Boko Haram terrorist groups, saw a decline in attacks thanks to the formation of a joint military force by local states to fight terrorism in the region, the observatory noted.
All terrorist attacks in West Africa last month took place in Nigeria, killing 48, injuring 11 and kidnapping two.
Three attacks took place in Central Africa last month, all in DR Congo, which abounds with valuable resources such as diamonds, copper, gold and fuel.
Such wealth plays a pivotal role in attracting terrorist organizations to the Central African country, the observatory added.
Meanwhile, counterterrorism operations, particularly in Somalia, Burkina Faso and Mali killed 648 terrorists and arrested 307 others, while 28 surrendered.
The observatory called for African government forces to manage counterterrorism operations based on a comprehensive security strategy.
Such a strategy should be based on improving economic security to stop the spread of terrorist groups which thrive on state vulnerability and destitution.
