London, Aug 18: The United States is the fourth "most at risk" country from a "terrorist" attack, after Colombia, Israel and Pakistan, while India is rated as the ninth most vulnerable country, according to a study published today by a leading risk assessment agency. Colombia (1) and Israel (2) were the only countries on the list of 186 deemed to be at "extreme risk" from "terrorist" attacks, according to the World Markets Research Centre's (WMRC) global terrorism index for 2003-04. The next 26 countries were considered to be at "high risk".

Pakistan came third in overall ranking, followed by the United States, the Philippines, Afghanistan, Indonesia, Iraq and India. Sri Lanka and Britain shared 10th spot.

The study was "designed to assess the risk of terrorism in each of these 186 countries and, crucially, against those countries' interests abroad over the next 12 months", WMRC's director of research, Guy Dunn, told news agencies.
"Those countries' interests abroad are a very important part of it.

" Somewhere like the us, there may be a potential for more 9/11-style attacks on US soil but certainly US commercial and government interests are considered soft targets outside the US," explained Dunn, whose organisation boasts world governments and multi-national companies among its clients.

Each country's risk was assessed on five criteria --"the motivation, capabilities and presence of terrorist groups, the potential scale of the damage and effectiveness of counter-terrorism forces", said Dunn.
Bureau Report