WASHINGTON, April 28 (Xinhua) -- The U.S. State Department reported on Friday that about 11,000 terror attacks occurred around the world last year, in which more than 14,600 people were killed.

    Figures in the department's annual Country Reports on Terrorism, which was released on Friday, showed a sharp increase in the number of attacks in 2005 from 3,192 in 2004.

    About one-third of the attacks, or some 3,500, took place in Iraq, resulting in about 8,300 of the total deaths last year, the report said.

    But the report, acknowledging that Iraq was a key battleground in the war on terrorism, said the Middle East country was not a safe haven for terrorists.

    Despite the sharp increase in terror attacks, the State Department said the numbers for 2004 and 2005 were not comparable, because last year's figure was based on a broader definition of terrorism.

    The al-Qaida terror network remained the most prominent terrorist threat to the United States and its allies, according to the report.

    The report listed six countries - Cuba, Iran, Libya, North Korea, Sudan and Syria, as state sponsors of terrorism.

    The National Counter terrorism Center, which monitors terrorism and provided the State Department with the statistics, reported 28,000 people wounded, killed or kidnapped in 2004. Enditem