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WASHINGTON, July 31 (Reuters) - Osama bin Laden's death sent
al Qaeda into a decline that will be hard to reverse, the United
States said on Tuesday in a report that found terrorist attacks
last year fell to their lowest level since 2005.
Describing 2011 as a "landmark year," the United States said
other top al Qaeda members killed last year included Atiyah Abd
al-Rahman, reportedly the militant organization's No. 2 figure
after bin Laden's death, and Anwar al-Awlaki, who led its lethal
affiliate in Yemen.
"The loss of bin Laden and these other key operatives puts
the network on a path of decline that will be difficult to
reverse," the State Department said in its annual "Country
Reports on Terrorism" document, which covers calendar year 2011.
The report attributed the killings, which included the May
2011 raid in which U.S. commandoes shot bin Laden in Pakistan,
to improved cooperation on counterterrorism. But it also said al
Qaeda is adaptable and poses "an enduring and serious threat."
While saying there were no terrorist attacks in the United
States last year, the report said the U.S. government remains
concerned about "threats to the homeland," citing the foiled
2009 Christmas Day attempt by the Nigerian "underwear bomber"
who sought to blow up a Detroit-bound aircraft.
The report included a statistical annex prepared by the
National Counterterrorism Center, part of the U.S. intelligence
community, that showed that the overall number of terrorist
attacks worldwide fell to 10,283 last year from 11,641 in 2010.
The number of worldwide fatalities fell to 12,533 last year
from 13,193 the year before, according to the statistics, which
NCTC issued in a report published on June 1.
That was the lowest level since 2005, when there were more
than 11,000 attacks and more than 14,000 fatalities. The general
decline in terrorism-related fatalities - which peaked at more
than 22,000 in 2007 - reflects, in part, less violence in Iraq.
The State Department report said that as al Qaeda's "core
has gotten weaker," affiliated groups have gained ground, citing
al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula as a particular threat and
voicing concern about al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb.
It also reported an increase in terrorist attacks in Africa,
due largely to Nigeria's Boko Haram militant group, as well as
in the Western Hemisphere, which it attributed chiefly to FARC
insurgents in Colombia.
Daniel Benjamin, the State Department's coordinator for
counterterrorism, said last year was also significant for the
"Arab Spring" of popular protests and what he described as its
rebuff to al Qaeda's ideology.
"We saw millions of citizens throughout the Middle East
advance peaceful public demands for change without any reference
to al Qaeda's incendiary world view," he said, adding upheavals
also present risks.
"Revolutionary transformations have many bumps in the road,"
he added. "Inspiring as the moment may be, we are not blind to
the attendant perils."
(Reporting by Arshad Mohammed; Editing by Cynthia Osterman and
Stacey Joyce)