Over half of the various transportation modes experienced increases in violent incidents from 1997. Highways accounted for the greatest number of attacks on a single mode, with almost one-quarter of all incidents, nearly doubling from 1997. Attacks against buses accounted for the greatest number of deaths and injuries for a single mode. In the maritime mode the number of piracy incidents remained about the same, however, attacks against vessels are becoming substantially more violent and ruthless, recording 78 armed attacks and 18 hijackings, which resulted in 88 deaths and 35 injuries.
Aviation. Aviation accounted for 7 percent of the overall violence against transportation, but historically it has been a "high profile" target for terrorists. Airlines are identified with a nation, for example, an attack against TWA or US Airways is an attack on the United States, as attacks against El Al are attacks against Israel. There were 76 violent incidents against aviation in 1998, eight of which were international terrorist attacks. Overall, the predominant method of attack against aviation was spread fairly evenly between armed attacks, bombings, and kidnapping/hijacking/sabotage. Seventy-seven people were killed and 13 were wounded during these incidents. This was significantly higher than 1997, and is primarily the result of insurgency in Africa, where Congolese rebels shot down a Congo Airlines Boeing 727, killing all 40 people on board. In addition, insurgents in Angola, shot down two civilian aircraft, killing 10 and 14 people respectively. Regionally, Latin American and Asia accounted for over half of the incidents, recording 20 and 19 respectively. Many of the incidents were on the ground at ticket offices, remote airports and airport structures, and against aviation officials.
