Terrorism in Saudi Arabia

The risk of terrorist attacks in Saudi Arabia over the past years can be classified as below average. Globally, the country took a less important role for terrorism so far. Over the past 5 years a total number of 250 terrorist incidents has been recorded, in which 313 people have been killed and 516 injured. Among them were 17 suicide acts.

In 3 incedents a total of 3 people have been kidnapped or taken as hostage, though a ransom was rarely (1 times) extorted.

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Most frequent attack targets in Saudi Arabia

(2013 to 2017)

Target	Attacks	Killed	Injured	Hostages
Private citizens	107	63	225	1
Police	92	185	104	1
Military	21	8	14	0
Government	14	5	10	1
Religious institutions	13	74	187	0
Business	12	7	21	1
Airports & Aircraft	5	0	0	0
Educational institution	4	2	2	0
Utilities	3	0	0	0
Food or water supply	1	0	6	0

Most affected regions

(2013 to 2017)

Region	Attacks	Killed	Injured	Hostages
Jazan	80	54	138	0
Najran	55	116	91	0
Eastern	52	75	213	3
Asir	26	35	48	0
Riyadh	13	6	3	0
Makkah	11	6	14	0
Northern Borders	2	11	4	0
Hail	2	3	0	0
Madinah	2	5	5	0
Northern	1	0	0	0
Tabuk	1	1	0	0

Terrorist organisations in Saudi Arabia

Organisation	Attacks	Killed	Injured
Islamic State	29	91	196
Al-Qaida	2	9	1
Popular Resistance Committees	2	1	4
Jaish al-Mukhtar	1	0	0
Supporters of Ali Abdullah Saleh	1	0	0
Shia Muslim extremists	1	2	0

All information sourced from the "National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism" (START) and its Global Terrorism Database. An act of terrorism is concidered every incident which is aimed at attaining a political, economic, religious, or social goal, but not for pure profit motives. In addition these incidents must not be legitimized by warfare activities, listet in the Geneva Conventions of 1949.