Domestic terrorismMore Americans in the last 25 years killed by far-right extremists than by Islamist terrorists

Over the last twenty-five years in the United States, those inspired by al-Qaeda and its associated movement (AQAM) have killed nearly seven-and-a-half times more people than far-right extremists have killed in one-fifth as many incidents. However, if you remove two outlier events — the 9/11 terrorist attacks and the Oklahoma City Bombing — far-right extremists (FRE) have killed nearly four times as many people as AQAM extremists, according to a new START report and research brief.

START reports that the research outlines these points

• The number of attacks and deaths excluding the 9/11 and Oklahoma City bombing victims:
  • 62 individuals were killed by AQAM offenders in 38 incidents (1.6 victims per homicide incident) and
  • 245 individuals were killed by FRE offenders in 177 incidents (1.4 victims per homicide incident).
• Targeting behaviors by AQAM and FRE:
  • FRE victims were more often purposefully targeted where AQAM victims were more likely to be random and representative.
  • The majority of AQAM victims were civilians.
  • FRE victims were most often targeted for racial or ethnic reasons.
• Weapons used:
  • There was a lower use of firearms by FRE (62.9%) compared to AQAM (72.6%).
  • When compared to AQAM, FRE favored more intimate forms of violence, such as stabbing or beating their victims to death.

The full report also examines ideological-motivated homicide victimization, to include temporal, geographic, individual and incident characteristics.

The research offers some important policy considerations, including the need for a continued vigilance regarding all ideological motivated violence and standardized training among law enforcement.

— Read more in Twenty-five years of ideological homicide victimization in the United States (START, March 2016); and Victims of Ideological Homicides, 1990-2014 (START, March 2016)