WIS News 10 - Columbia, South Carolina | Research company ranks US 4th for risk of terrorism

Research company ranks US 4th for risk of terrorism

(London-AP) Aug. 18, 2003 - A report to be released on Monday names the United States as a top target for a terror attack within the next 12 months.

The report, compiled by World Markets Research Center , a company based in London, says the US is the fourth most likely of 186 countries to be the target of a terrorist attack within a year.

Colombia, Israel and Pakistan are named as the only three countries with a greater terror risk than the United States. The Philippines ranked fifth on the list.

The World Terrorism Index says militant Islamists have "less extensive" webs in America than in Western Europe, but terrorists are more motivated against the US.

The report says US fighting in Afghanistan and Iraq "has exacerbated anti-US sentiment." It says terrorists consider America "a legitimate, high-profile target."

Five categories used as criteria for the rankings are: motivation of terrorist groups, presence of terror cells, scale and frequency of past attacks, ability of terror groups to organize and obtain weapons and ability of the government to prevent attacks.

The report named North Korea as the country with the lowest risk of a terror attack.

The company specializes in gauging country risk and has hundreds of clients in 45 nations. Clients include multinational companies, banks, governments, universities and charities.

updated 7:43am by Chris Rees