WASHINGTON: In 2013, terrorists in South Asia carried out operations in heavily populated areas and continued to target regional government representatives and US citizens, says a US State Department report (partly reported in Thursday’s issue).

The country reports on terrorism, released on Wednesday, warned that South Asia remained “a front line” in the battle against terrorism.

Al Qaeda maintained ties with other terrorist organisations in the region, such as Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan and the Haqqani network, and such alliances continued to provide additional resources and capabilities to the terrorists, the report said.

On a number of occasions, civilians in South Asia were wounded or killed in terrorist actions.

The report said that India remained severely affected by and vulnerable to terrorism, “including from Pakistan-based groups and their affiliates” as well as left-wing violent extremists.

In response, the Indian government continued to undertake efforts to coordinate its counter-terrorism efforts “more effectively” and expanded its cooperation and coordination with the international community and regional partners.

According to the report, Indian sources continued to attribute violence and deaths in India-held Jammu and Kashmir to transnational terrorist groups allegedly backed by Pakistan.

Continued allegations of violations of the Line of Control, Pakistan’s failure to bring the perpetrators of the 2008 Mumbai attacks to justice and activities of Pakistan-based terrorist groups “remained serious concerns for the Indian government”, the report said.

The State Department report praised Bangladesh as an influential counter-terrorism partner in the region, and said it continued to take strides against international terrorism.

The government’s ongoing counter-terrorism efforts made it more difficult for transnational terrorists to operate in or use Bangladeshi territory and there were no major terrorist incidents in Bangladesh in 2013, it said.

The US and Bangladesh signed a Counter-terrorism Cooperation Initiative on October 22, 2013, to enhance bilateral cooperation.