Newly revealed government statistics show that a record number of international terrorist attacks occurred last year. And more people died because of terrorism than in any recent year besides 2001. The Bush administration released the figures on Wednesday just weeks after the State Department said it would stop issuing country-by-country figures in its annual review of global terrorism. At a press conference, administration officials urged reporters not to compare this year’s terrorism numbers with previous ones. They claimed that the threefold increase in the number of attacks was simply a result of changes in methodology. Democratic critics charged that the Bush administration was attempting to hide evidence that raised questions on the success of the so-called war on terror. Both Iraq and Afghanistan saw a surge in violent attacks last year.