Imphal, Srinagar among 64 `extreme terror-risk’ cities in the world

Two Indian cities - Imphal (ranked 32) and Srinagar (ranked 49) have been named to be at "extreme risk" of a terrorist attack, mainly aiming to cause mass casualties and destroy public transport networks.

Around 64 cities around the world are at "extreme" risk, with most in the Middle East and Asia - and three in Europe.

Baghdad has been ranked as the riskiest city in the world, according to an analysis of the terror risk assessment of 1,300 commercial hubs and urban centres around the world.

Global risk analysis firm Verisk Maplecroft in its new report has ranked world cities according to their attack risk. Over the last six years, Iraq's capital suffered a stunning 380 terrorist attacks which claimed 1,141 lives, making it the deadliest city in the world, by terror attacks, the report noted.

The analysis of the terror risk to 1,300 commercial hubs and urban centres around the world identified populations and businesses in 113 Indian cities to be at some risk - high, medium or low - of facing terrorist attacks.

The study ranked Chennai as the next major Indian city that faces a terrorist threat, even though the risk quotient has been marked as medium.

Bangalore is the fourth most threat prone city, even though it is placed at 204th in the global threat list, followed by Pune and Hyderabad at 206th and 207th respectively

Cities like Nagpur (ranked 2010) and Kolkata (2012) have been found to face a higher risk of a mass attack by terrorists that the usually expected targets like Delhi (447) and Mumbai (298).

Nearly 64 cities around the world are at "extreme" risk, with most in the Middle East and Asia - and three in Europe.

London is ranked as low as at 400 in the threat list due to the lack of a terror incident since the 7/7 bombings, while Paris has soared into the top 100 cities following the Charlie Hebdo shooting, according to Verisk Maplecroft's new Global Alerts Dashboard (GAD).

Belfast has been named as the most dangerous city in Europe while Baghdad topped the list worldwide.

Outside of Iraq, other capital cities rated 'extreme risk' include Kabul (13th), Mogadishu in Somalia (14th), Sana'a in Yemen (19th) and Tripoli in Libya (48th).

However, with investment limited in conflict and post-conflict locations, it is the risk posed by terrorism in the primary cities of strategic economies, such as Egypt, Israel, Kenya, Nigeria and Pakistan that has the potential to threaten business and supply chain continuity.

With an estimated 80 per cent of global GDP generated from cities, visibility of the sub-national differences in terrorism levels should be an imperative for multinational organisations looking to understand and price the risks to assets, employees and supply chains, says the report.