Terrorism in Yemen

The risk of terrorist attacks in Yemen over the past years can be classified as extremely high. Worldwide this is one of the most dangerous countries with the most and devastating attacks. Over the past 5 years a total number of 1888 terrorist incidents has been recorded, in which 4166 people have been killed and 5456 injured. Among them were 105 suicide acts.

In 249 incedents a total of 1242 people have been kidnapped or taken as hostage, though a ransom was rarely (9 times) extorted.

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Most frequent attack targets in Yemen

(2013 to 2017)

Target	Attacks	Killed	Injured	Hostages
Private citizens	673	1,890	3,107	471
Government	299	363	549	101
Police	168	444	459	70
Non-state militias	168	775	441	138
Military	123	622	714	64
Utilities	119	11	55	0
Political parties	113	474	157	409
Business	88	124	266	19
Journalists & Media	73	17	55	108
Religious institutions	70	333	770	32

Most affected regions

(2013 to 2017)

Region	Attacks	Killed	Injured	Hostages
Taizz	301	788	1,570	66
Amanat Al Asimah	299	653	1,380	329
Adan	241	688	829	28
Marib	156	164	297	31
Hadramawt	152	296	277	59
Al Bayda	98	275	89	24
Abyan	90	197	141	20
Lahij	79	306	225	50
Ibb	68	106	108	143
Shabwah	67	121	55	42
Ad Dali	53	182	50	180
Al Hudaydah	52	74	119	89
Sanaa	50	64	33	57
Dhamar	35	19	34	20
Amran	31	48	64	40
Saada	27	95	108	7
Al Jawf	25	72	55	5
Hajjah	21	10	4	4
Mahwit	3	4	12	24

Terrorist organisations in Yemen

Organisation	Attacks	Killed	Injured	Hostages
Al-Qaida	404	1,103	1,197	138
Islamic State	75	602	948	42
Popular Resistance Committees	19	93	42	144
Supporters of Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi	14	75	0	0
Al-Islah Party	5	26	10	0
Muslim extremists	4	6	15	2
Hassan Mabkhut Group	2	0	0	0
Hadramawt Tribes Alliance	1	0	0	0
Tehama Movement	1	0	5	0
Abu Abbas Brigade	1	0	0	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.