WASHINGTON -- Violent crime increased last year for the first time in nearly a decade, the **** Washington Post **** reported Sunday, citing preliminary statistics provided by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).

According to the daily, major crimes in 2001 were up by 2 percent from the year before. The increase included a 3.1 percent rise in murders, including a jump of 67 percent in Boston and double-digit percentage spikes in Houston, Atlanta, St. Louis and Phoenix, among other cities.

Every category of crime showed an increase except aggravated assault, the newspaper reported.

Crime experts said the rises in murders and robberies were particularly alarming because of the severe impact they have on neighborhoods and communities, AFP reported.

The rise in crime comes amid budget pressures on many local police departments because of declining tax revenue, and a refocusing of resources away from traditional crime investigations in order to combat terrorism.

The national crime increase, to be outlined in an annual report released monday by the FBI's Uniform Crime Reporting Program, reverses nine years of declining crime numbers, according to the newspaper.