Nigeria's Boko Haram Islamic insurgents ‘the world’s deadliest’

A new report says Nigeria’s Boko Haram Islamic insurgents have become the world’s deadliest extremist group, edging out the Islamic State group to which it is affiliated.

The Global Terrorism Index says deaths attributed to Boko Haram increased by 317% in 2014 to 6,644 compared to 6,073 blamed on Islamic State.

Boko Haram pledged allegiance to IS in March and calls itself that group’s West Africa Province.

The two are responsible for 51% of deaths by terror worldwide, according to the report published by the New York City-based Institute for Economics and Peace.

Amnesty International has blamed Nigeria’s military for the deaths in detention of another 8,000 civilians.

The new report says nearly all terrorist attacks have occurred in countries where political violence by governments is widespread.

IS killed more people in combat than in acts of terrorism in 2014.

It was responsible for at least 20,000 battlefield deaths over the year in clashes with various state and non-state combatants.

The Taliban, which was the deadliest group in 2013, was ranked third in 2014, despite killing 3,477 people in terrorist attacks, which is a 38% increase in fatalities.

The group remains second-deadliest after IS in terms of battlefield kills.