WASHINGTON, June 22: International terrorism killed 625 people last year, more than double the 307 deaths the Bush administration cited in a faulty report used to argue it is winning the 'war on terrorism'.

The errors in the annual "Patterns of Global Terrorism" report have embarrassed the administration and dented its claim that Washington is prevailing in the war on terrorism, a key part of President George W. Bush's re-election strategy.

The number of deaths from international terrorist attacks last year remained below 2002's 725 fatalities, the administration said on Tuesday. One US official said the main reason for the surge in 2003 fatalities was the original failure to count many attacks in November and December, including a Nov. 9 car bombing in Riyadh that killed at least 17 people and November 15 and 20 car bombings in Istanbul that killed at least 61 people.

The number of international terrorist attacks last year was revised up to 208 from the 190 the State Department initially reported and the number of 2002 attacks was also revised up to 205 from the 198 originally reported.

When the State Department released its annual terrorism report with fanfare nearly two months ago, officials cited it as evidence Washington was prevailing in the war on terrorism.

US officials have since denied they manipulated the figures for political gain ahead of the November 2 US election. Secretary of State Colin Powell has said clerical and administrative errors helped cause the mistakes by the Terrorist Threat Integration Center, an interagency group set up last year to address the failure of US intelligence agencies to prevent the Sept 11, 2001, attacks. -Reuters