Provided by the Bureau of Consular Affairs, U.S. Department of State

The term “private U.S. citizen” refers to any U.S. citizen overseas not acting in an official capacity on behalf of the U.S. government; therefore these figures do not include, for example, U.S. military personnel killed or injured in a terrorism-related incident while on active duty or employees of the Department of State and other federal agencies while overseas on U.S. government orders. Members of U.S. government employees’ households and U.S. citizens working for contractors hired by the U.S. government, however, are considered private U.S. citizens for purposes of this report.

Although every effort was made to include all terrorism-related deaths and injuries involving private U.S. citizens overseas, the figures below reflect only those cases reported to, or known by, the U.S. Department of State. These figures may not reflect actual numbers of injured, which may not always be reported, depending on the severity of injuries and other factors. In the cases of Iraq, Syria, and Afghanistan, it is particularly difficult to gather comprehensive information about all incidents and to distinguish terrorism from the numerous other forms of violence.

U.S. citizens overseas killed as a result of incidents of terrorism: 24
U.S. citizens overseas injured as a result of incidents of terrorism: 8
U.S. citizens overseas kidnapped as a result of incidents of terrorism: 3

TERRORISM DEATHS OF PRIVATE U.S. CITIZENS IN 2014 (BY COUNTRY)

* One U.S. Citizen, kidnapped in northern Syria in 2012, was released on August 24, 2014.