The US State Department announced an international travel alert that warned citizens about possible terrorist attacks. It said that al-Qaeda would potentially terrorize Middle East, North Africa and South Asia.
"Current information suggests that al-Qaeda and affiliated organizations continue to plan terrorist attacks both in the region and beyond, and that they may focus efforts to conduct attacks in the period between now and the end of August," the department stated yesterday. Twenty one embassies and consulates of the US in the said regions would be closed this weekend as a safety measure. In the last 10 days, the National Security Agency was able to intercept the communications among terrorist which led to the warning.
The International Monetary Fund said that the September 11, 2001 attack in the US had a direct cost of US$21.4 billion. Navarro and Spencer added that around US$50 to US$53 billion was recorded as a loss of the capital stock. Furthermore, in Pakistan, the Ministry of Finance estimated that the aggregate cost of the terrorist attacks from 2001 to 2011 was US$67.9 billion. The security related expenses of the country increased with the hopes to fight terrorism. The country's security and relief operations reached up to US$4 billion or 2.4% of its average gross domestic product. Due to terrorist attacks, most of the countries increased their defense, relief and rehabilitation budgets.
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