Perhaps not so creative. Also in the article, it says that while deaths per attack are down, *number* of attacks is up.

I happen to think that the number of attacks is a better measure of whether the insurgency is abating than is number of deaths. The former is completely under the control of the insurgents, while the latter has a large component of chance, defensive strategy, medical response, and other factors beyond the insurgents' control.

Not an expert in this field though...