THE US State Department yesterday urged that "non-military" strategies be used to fight terrorism as it admitted that more than 20,000 people died in terrorist attacks last year, up 40 per cent on 2005.

The big rise in deaths, injuries and terrorist incidents was almost entirely due to deteriorating security in Iraq and Afghanistan where the US is engaged in a conventional military response to the threat of Islamic extremism.

Incidents of terrorism in Iraq almost doubled to 6630 in 2006, resulting in more than 38,000 deaths, injuries or kidnappings. In Afghanistan the number rose from 491 to 749, accounting for almost 3000 deaths, injuries or abductions.