IHS: Islamic State boosts attacks in response to territorial losses
BAGHDAD - Islamic State attacks have increased this year, particularly in Iraq and Syria as the group responds to substantial territorial losses, a US-based analysis firm IHS said on Sunday.
There were 891 attacks during the first quarter of 2016 in neighbours Iraq and Syria, more than in any three-month period since the militants' sweeping advance in mid-2014, IHS said in a new report.
Those attacks killed 2,150 people, a 44 percent rise over the previous three months and the highest quarterly toll in nearly a year.
"The group is resorting more and more to mass-casualty violence as it comes under heavy pressure from multiple angles," said Matthew Henman, head of IHS Jane's Terrorism and Insurgency Centre.
The US military estimates Islamic State's territory in Iraq has shrunk by about 40 percent from its 2014 peak and 20 percent in Syria.
