WASHINGTON, June 13 (UPI) -- Secretary of State Colin Powell found himself backtracking Sunday as he admitted April's flawed terror report was a mistake.
The State Department's annual report on global terrorism incorrectly declared that terrorist attacks declined in 2003, CNN reported. But figures from a corrected report "will be up sharply," State Department spokesman Richard Boucher has said.
The inaccurate report said 190 acts of international terrorism occurred in 2003 -- a slight drop from 198 attacks the previous year and the lowest total since 1969. However, researchers Alan Krueger of Princeton University and David Laitin of Stanford University said the number of significant attacks showed a 36 percent increase over the 124 events in 2001.
Powell said the information was compiled by the CIA and the Terrorist Threat Information Center, which includes officials from the Pentagon, the Department of Homeland Security, the FBI and CIA. He said State Department officials were working during the weekend to find out how the mistakes occurred.
