Fighters from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), now called the Islamic State group, marching in Raqqa, Syria. (AP Photo/Militant Website, File)
Thursday, 17 Dec 2015 12:35 PM
Americans are more likely to be killed — and least likely to be released — by jihadist terror groups, according to a new report.
West Point's Combating Terrorism Center, in a report released Thursday, found the United States, Turkey, Italy, the United Kingdom, France and Germany make up 60 percent of the Westerners kidnapped by terror groups since 2001.
The report finds Sunni jihadist execution rates are three times that of all others — and the execution rate for Americans held hostage by these groups is 47 percent — "nearly four times the rate for other Western hostages."
"The fact that U.S. citizens are four times more likely to be executed and at least four times less likely to be released than individuals from other nations is an important finding," the report states.
"It appears, based on U.S. and UK rates, that nations who refuse to negotiate with jihadist organizations have a higher risk of their citizens being executed," the executive summary notes.
And it's also clear, the report found, "that ransom payments received by these groups fund their operations."
Yet, the report's executive summary notes that "while nationality appears to be important in determining the fate of individuals once kidnapped, it does not appear to influence who gets [kidnapped] . . . they often seem to occur opportunistically against individuals who are in the wrong place at the wrong time."
The 68-page report, first reported by CNN, poured over 1,400 cases around the globe, with jihadist kidnappings in the Middle East and Africa the central focus.
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Of the approximately 36 global jihadist organizations, ISIS, the Taliban, and al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb in Africa make up 70 percent of the abductions of Westerners, the report found.
Other findings include:
West Point's Combating Terrorism Center, in a report released Thursday, found the United States, Turkey, Italy, the United Kingdom, France and Germany make up 60 percent of the Westerners kidnapped by terror groups since 2001.
The report finds Sunni jihadist execution rates are three times that of all others — and the execution rate for Americans held hostage by these groups is 47 percent — "nearly four times the rate for other Western hostages."
"The fact that U.S. citizens are four times more likely to be executed and at least four times less likely to be released than individuals from other nations is an important finding," the report states.
"It appears, based on U.S. and UK rates, that nations who refuse to negotiate with jihadist organizations have a higher risk of their citizens being executed," the executive summary notes.
And it's also clear, the report found, "that ransom payments received by these groups fund their operations."
Yet, the report's executive summary notes that "while nationality appears to be important in determining the fate of individuals once kidnapped, it does not appear to influence who gets [kidnapped] . . . they often seem to occur opportunistically against individuals who are in the wrong place at the wrong time."
The 68-page report, first reported by CNN, poured over 1,400 cases around the globe, with jihadist kidnappings in the Middle East and Africa the central focus.
Of the approximately 36 global jihadist organizations, ISIS, the Taliban, and al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb in Africa make up 70 percent of the abductions of Westerners, the report found.
Other findings include:
- ISIS had the highest execution rate of its Western hostages; there's been no record of of Jabhat al-Nusra, the al-Qaida affiliate in Syria, or Boko Haram, a terrorist group based in Nigeria, ever having executed a Western hostage.
- Jihadist groups released just over 60 percent of their hostages, and more than 60 percent of the kidnappings are resolved between two weeks and six months.
- Eighteen percent of kidnappings by "non-state entities" like Somali pirate groups last more than six months.
- Journalists and non-governmental organization workers had the highest rates of abduction.
Read Latest Breaking News from Newsmax.com http://www.newsmax.com/Newsfront/American-Hostages-Likely-Killed/2015/12/17/id/706236/#ixzz3uespJxRh
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