§ Mr. Martenasked the Secretary of State for Defence if he will publish a table showing how many terrorist incidents were recorded for each month from January, 1962 to date in South Arabia.
§ Mr. George ThomsonI have been asked to reply.
Records have not been maintained of the number of incidents in South Arabia over the whole of the period requested. It is in any case difficult to define for statistical purposes incidents which may vary from a grenade thrown at random without doing any damage to major incidents with heavy casualties. The most accurate way to measure the degree of terrorism is by a count of casualties. I would, therefore refer the hon. Gentleman to my Reply to the right hon. Gentleman the Member for Wolverhampton, South-West (Mr. Powell) on 21st February. Since that date, there have been the following further casualties:
Thirty-three British servicemen wounded, two British civilians killed and ten wounded, twenty-seven others have been killed and sixty-four wounded.—[Vol. 741, c. 251–2.]