Spring has just started, and though this winter was cold on most of the northern hemisphere, terrorists were on fire.

This year has similar contestants as last year though thus far Colombia seems to have dropped out of the race and Turkey, Somalia and Lebanon seem to have entered the race. The qualified teams for the winter session were: Turkey, Lebanon, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iraq, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Israel and The Magherb.

Turkish citizens barely had time to celebrate the New Year as on January 3rd a car bomb in the Southeastern city of Diyarbakir left seven dead and around 60 injured. A few days later, defending champions Iraq scored with six bombing leaving 19 dead on January 7th. However Pakistan, last year’s runner ups, quickly took the lead, with two attacks within four days causing 34 victims. In the meantime, a bomb exploded in Myanmar leaving two people dead.

During the month of January, Iraq had a rather quiet month compared with the actions it used to produce last year. We had to wait until January 16th for an attack to kill nine then January 21st for a suicide bomber to finally kill 18 during a… funeral! In Sri Lanka, a civilian bus was bombed and passengers who fled were gunned down in an attack causing the death of 28 people.

Elsewhere during the month of January, Palestinians killed an Israeli police officer in Israeli territory in the West Bank, three people were killed in a bomb targeting the US embassy in Beirut, Lebanon, and four people were killed by a suicide bomber in Thenia, Algeria.

February gave all the action terrorism promised to give, enough for the US to invade 16 more countries, enough for airports to make x-ray checks of passengers and for European countries to make DNA tests for immigrants who wish to come, oh wait, that’s already been done.

On the first day of February, two mentally disabled women blew themselves up in a market killing 98. The same day a suicide bomber killed six in Pakistan. The next day, a bus was bombed in Sri Lanka killing 20. Still in Sri Lanka, the next day an attack killed 12 in Colombo, and then the next day 13 in Weli Oya and Colombo. Looks like those Sri Lankans are trying to catch up with Iraqis. In Somalia, a landmine killed eight on February 3rd and two bombs killed 25 on February 5th.

Pakistan and Afghanistan made terrorism headlines for the remainder of the month. In Pakistan, bombings and suicide bombings killed 103 and injured 200, while in Afghanistan roadside bombings, suicide bombings and other bombs killed 108. It promises to be a very close race to the championship this year, as this time there are no clear favorites. As a reminder, the country with most victims of terrorism will win the race at the end of the year.

March saw spring come. Before spring came, the weather was warming up and so were terrorist attacks. Palestinians, in an attack praised by Hamas, killed eight innocent Israelis whose only sin according to terrorists was to study in a Yeshiva. Before spring came, a total of 58 Iraqis were killed in terrorist attacks.

All this should show a tight race between Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Afghanistan and Iraq, though India, last year’s fourth place finisher, still hasn’t entered the race.

Here are the standings for the 2008 winter session.

Pakistan has taken the lead as the world’s bloodiest country to live in. Yet the contest can show surprises, as the race for first place couldn’t be tighter. That was the world terrorism championships. And don’t forget, YOU could be the next victim of terrorism.