Another Sept 11-style attack on US likely

The London-based World Markets Research Centre ranked Colombia, Israel, Pakistan, the United States and the Philippines, in descending order, as the five countries most likely to be targeted in a terrorist attack in the next year, said Guy Dunn, author of the company's World Terrorism Index.

The index, to be published Monday, assesses the risk of terrorism to the countries and their interests abroad, he said. The country least likely to be attacked by terrorists is North Korea, Dunn said.

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The assessments used five criteria: motivation of terrorists, the presence of terror groups, the scale and frequency of past attacks, efficacy of the groups in carrying out attacks and how many attacks were thwarted by the country.

The categories also were weighted differently. For example, 40 percent was given to motivation and 10 percent to prevention.

"Another Sept. 11-style terrorist attack in the United States is highly likely," the report states. "Networks of militant Islamist groups are less extensive in the US than they are in Western Europe, but US-led military action in Afghanistan and Iraq has exacerbated anti-US sentiment."

In terms of motivation, Dunn said, "The United States, as a global superpower, is considered a legitimate, high-profile target."

But in terms of the presence of terrorist cells, the United States has relatively few, "although it is probably the most open society in the world," he said.