Boko Haram insurgency is world’s fourth deadliest conflict, says report

Boko Haram insurgency is world’s fourth deadliest conflict, says report

The Boko Haram insurgency recorded the fourth deadliest conflict in the world in 2014 with 11,529 deaths, according to a study released by the Project for the Study of the 21st Century think tank.
The figure is almost three times those killed in 2013, the report said.
Syria led the pack with more than 76,000 deaths, followed by Iraq with 21,000 deaths and Afghanistan with 14,638.
Altogether, the death toll in the world’s most brutal conflicts last year was more than 28% higher than the previous year, with bloodshed in Syria worse than all others for the second year running.
Data from sources including the United States military, the United Nations, the Syria Observatory for Human Rights and Iraq Body Count showed more than 76,000 people were killed in Syria last year, up from 73,447 in 2013.
Many of the most violent wars involved radical Islamist groups. Around 21,000 lives were lost in Iraq as the government fought with Islamic State (Isis), followed by Afghanistan with 14,638 and Nigeria on 11,529, according to the analysis that the think tank said could easily underestimate the actual figures.

15: Conflict in India claimed 976 lives in 2014, up from 885 in 2013.
14: Conflict in the Democratic Republic of Congo claimed 1,235 lives, down from 1,976 in 2013.
13: Fighting in Yemen claimed 1,500 lives in 2014, up from 600 in 2013. The advance of the Iranian-backed Houthis into the capital in September and to other regions, mainly in central and eastern Yemen, has been met with resistance from armed Sunni tribes, some of whom are backed by al-Qaeda militants.
12: The Israel-Palestinian conflict claimed 2,365 lives in 2014, a massive increase in the region following 2013.
11: Fighting between rival groups in Libya claimed 2,825 people in 2014, up from 643 in 2013. Islamist militants who have allied themselves to IS that controls parts of Iraq and Syria have recently spread their reach in the divided country, posing a challenge to the Tripoli-based government and its allied factions which have engaged them in battle.