US Drone strikes in Pakistan are illegal under international law.

[TruthSeeker]

US launches 2 more drone strikes in North and South Waziristan
By BILL ROGGIO, October 6, 2014

The US launched two drone strikes against jihadists operating in Pakistan's Taliban-controlled tribal agency of North and South Waziristan over the past two days. Thirteen people, including a "high level target" are reported to have been killed in the two strikes.

Yesterday's strike took place in the Kand Ghar area of the Shawal Valley in South Waziristan. The CIA-piloted Reapers or Predators fired a pair of missiles at a compound, killing five people, including an unnamed "high level target," Dawn reported. It is unclear if the jihadists who are targeted in the strike were local Taliban fighters, al Qaeda, or members of other terrorist groups that are known to operate in the area.

In today's attack, US drones launched several missiles at a compound in the Mangroti area of the Shawal Valley in North Waziristan that belongs to a Taliban commander known as Habib, Dawn reported. Eight "suspected militants" were killed and six more were wounded, according to local officials. It is unclear if Habib is among those killed.

The US has now launched two airstrikes in South Waziristan since the end of September. A strike on Sept. 28 in the Wana area of South Waziristan reportedly killed two "Arabs" and two local jihadists.

Read more: http://www.longwarjournal.org/archives/2014/10/us_launches_2_more_d.php#ixzz3FaJLlLyp

US launches another 2 drone strikes in North Waziristan
By BILL ROGGIO, October 7, 2014

The US launched two more airstrikes in Pakistan's lawless tribal agencies today, killing 10 more "militants," according to reports from the region.

In the first strike, the remotely piloted, CIA-operated Reapers or Predators fired missiles at a compound and a vehicle in the village of Kund Ghar in the Shawal Valley in North Waziristan. The compound is owned by "militant commander Mustaqeem," according to Dawn.

In the second strike, the US killed three more "militants" and wounded five, according to Dawn. Two missiles were fired at a compound in the village Madakhel Kunar Sar in the Datta Khel area of North Waziristan.

The targets of the strikes have not been disclosed. It is unclear if Mustaqeem or senior jihadist leaders or operatives were killed in the first US airstrike. The Taliban and al Qaeda have not released statements announcing the death of its leaders or operatives.

The US has carried out 13 drone strikes inside Pakistan this year; all 13 have taken place since June 11. The US drone program in Pakistan was put on hold from the end of December 2013 up until June 11, 2014 as the Pakistani government attempted to negotiate a peace deal with the Movement of the Taliban in Pakistan, an al Qaeda-linked group that wages jihad in Afghanistan and seeks to overthrow the Pakistani state.

Read more: http://www.longwarjournal.org/archives/2014/10/us_launches_another_1.php#ixzz3FaJVcY8h

 

[IceCold]

Nothing is Illegal in the Kingdom of Al-Sharif except one "Go Nawaz Go"

 

[RabzonKhan]

US drone strike 'kills fighters' in Pakistan

At least four suspected fighters killed in North Waziristan, the latest in a flurry of recent strikes in the area.

Last updated: 09 Oct 2014

A US drone strike has killed at least four suspected fighters in a restive northwestern Pakistani tribal area on the Afghan border, officials have said, taking the death toll from a flurry of such strikes this week to 25.

The attack took place on Thursday at Laman village in North Waziristan where the Pakistani military has been waging a major offensive since June.
"A US drone fired two missiles at a vehicle and killed at least four militants and one was wounded," a senior security official told the AFP news agency.

The official said that the strike took place before midnight and added that there were "foreigners" among those killed. A local government official confirmed the casualties.


There has been a spike in drone attacks in North Waziristan this month. Analysts say it could be linked to intelligence regarding a high-value target, though none of the casualties so far have been named.

Major offensive

The semi-autonomous tribal region has for years been a hideout for armed groups of all stripes - including al-Qaeda and the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (PTT), as well as foreign fighters such as Uzbeks and Uighurs.

Washington pressed Islamabad for years to destroy sanctuaries in the area, which fighters have used to launch attacks on NATO forces in Afghanistan.
The army launched a major offensive against the rebels in North Waziristan in June, and say they have killed more than 1,000 so far, with 86 soldiers losing their lives in the operation.

The PTT dispute the army's figures for the number of fighters killed.
The area is off-limits to journalists, making it impossible to verify the number and identify the dead independently.

Pakistan routinely protests against US drone strikes, which have been targeting fighters in the tribal areas since 2004, saying they violate its sovereignty and are counterproductive in the fight against terrorism.

But most analysts believe the resumption of the drone programme after it was suspended - reportedly to give Pakistan space for negotiations with the Taliban which ultimately failed - is evidence of collusion between the two countries.

 

[TruthSeeker]

US drones strike al Qaeda hub in Pakistan's tribal areas

By BILL ROGGIO, October 9, 2014

Today, the US launched its fifth drone strike in Pakistan's Waziristan region in the past five days. Four people are reported to have been killed in today's strike.

Pakistani officials said that the CIA-operated, remotely piloted Reapers or Predators fired missiles at a vehicle as it traveled in the village of Loman in the Datta Khel area of North Waziristan, Dawn reported.

Of the five strikes reported in North and South Waziristan in the past five days, three took place in the Shawal Valley, which spans both tribal agencies, and two occurred in Datta Khel in North Waziristan. Both Datta Khel and the Shawal Valley are known havens for al Qaeda and also serve as transit points for jihadists entering or leaving Afghanistan.

The flurry of operations in such a relatively short time period indicates the US is hunting for a senior al Qaeda or allied jihadist leader in Pakistan's tribal areas. No senior jihadists leaders or operatives have been reported killed in the five strikes.

US intelligence officials familiar with the drone program in Pakistan who were contacted by The Long War Journal would neither confirm nor deny that the CIA is hunting a top-level al Qaeda leader in the tribal areas.

The US has carried out 14 drone strikes inside Pakistan this year; all 14 have taken place since June 11. The US drone program in Pakistan was put on hold from the end of December 2013 up until June 11, 2014 as the Pakistani government attempted to negotiate a peace deal with the Movement of the Taliban in Pakistan, an al Qaeda-linked group that wages jihad in Afghanistan and seeks to overthrow the Pakistani state.


Read more: http://www.longwarjournal.org/archives/2014/10/us_drones_strike_in_6.php#ixzz3FhWLSPAB

 

[jaunty]

Well, the issue is "illegal" according to WHO?? There is no recognized legal system that could adjudicate the "legality" of US drone strikes in the FATA parts of Pakistan. IF Pakistan thinks a "crime" has been committed on its territory because of a drone strike, it should bring criminal charges against the perpetrators. Then, if the charges were sustained by a guilty verdict, then we could say that according to Pakistan the drone strike was illegal. Until such transpires, the "illegal" charge is just political hype.

I think Pakistanis passed a resolution in the parliament declaring drone strikes as illegal.

 

[SirHatesALot]

I think Pakistanis passed a resolution in the parliament declaring drone strikes as illegal.

Pakistani Parliament is subservient to Pakistani Military and they are ok with the drone strikes.

 

[jaunty]

Pakistani Parliament is subservient to Pakistani Military and they are ok with the drone strikes.

If I remember correctly the army chief also testified before the parliament then, so technically army was also on board.

 

[SirHatesALot]

If I remember correctly the army chief also testified before the parliament then, so technically army was also on board.

Its all just for show otherwise PA wouldn't give intel for drone strikes.

 

[TruthSeeker]

AQIS leader, 'good' Taliban commander killed in 2 US drone strikes in Pakistan's tribal areas

By BILL ROGGIO, October 11, 2014

The US reportedly killed a senior leader in the newly formed al Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent as well as a Taliban commander who serves under Hafiz Gul Bahadar in a pair of drone strikes today in Pakistan's tribal agencies of Khyber and North Waziristan.

In the first strike, CIA-operated remotely piloted Predators or Reapers fired several missiles at a compound in the village of Chancharano Kandaw in Khyber's Tirah Valley, The Express Tribune reported.

Sheikh Imran Ali Siddiqi, who is also known as Haji Shaikh Waliullah, was among the four people killed in the airstrike. Two others were wounded. Usama Mahmood, the top spokesman for AQIS, confirmed that Siddiqi was among those killed, The Express Tribune noted. Al Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent was formed on Sept. 3 and includes elements of some of Pakistan, Afghanistan, and India's most prominent jihadist groups.

The Tirah Valley has served as a haven for senior al Qaeda and other jihadist leaders in the past. In December 2010, the US killed Ibn Amin, the commander of the Tora Bora Brigade, one of six formations in al Qaeda's Lashkar al Zil or Shadow Army, in one of three drone strikes that month.

In the second of today's strikes, the US killed Taliban commander Muhammad Mustafa and three other "foreigners" as they traveled in a vehicle in the village of Maraga in the Shawal Valley in North Waziristan. Mustafa served under Hafiz Gul Bahadar, the senior Taliban leader in North Waziristan who is favored by Pakistan's military and government despite his ties to terrorist groups, according to Dawn.

The Shawal Valley, where today's second strike took place, is administered by Bahadar, who provides shelter to senior al Qaeda leaders as well as terrorists from numerous Pakistani and Central Asian terror groups.



Read more: http://www.longwarjournal.org/archives/2014/10/us_drones_kill_good_1.php#ixzz3Fz56bwDi

 

[TruthSeeker]

US drone strike kills five in S Waziristan

A suspected US drone strike killed at least five militants in the tribal region bordering Afghanistan on Thursday, with local villagers saying the dead included of a senior Arab commander.

US drone strikes have escalated this month, hitting targets in tribal areas several times a week, but the latest strike comes just days after US and British combat troops in neighbouring Afghanistan officially ended their operations. “The bodies were taken to an unknown location after the attack. We heard from local militants that there was a senior Arab commander but they didn’t mention his name,” said one villager in South Waziristan. Another villager, who also spoke anonymously, said a number of “foreign guests” were staying in the targeted house after fleeing a major military offensive in the tribal region of North Waziristan.

US drone strike kills five in S Waziristan

Arab, Haqqani Network commanders reported killed in latest drone strike in South Waziristan

By BILL ROGGIO, October 30, 2014

The US is reported to have killed a "senior Arab commander" in a drone strike today in Pakistan's Taliban-infested tribal agency of South Waziristan. The strike took place in an area where, less than two years ago, the US killed a Taliban commander who was supported by the Pakistani state.

Today's drone strike took place in the Birmal area of South Waziristan, a known Taliban stronghold. The remotely piloted Predators or Reapers killed five jihadists, including one described by a villager as "a senior Arab commander," in a strike on a compound, Reuters reported.

"The bodies were taken to an unknown location after the attack," the news agency stated. A number of "foreign guests," a reference to al Qaeda and other jihadist groups from outside of Pakistan, were meeting at the compound.

The Arab commander was identified as "Adil," according to Dawn.

Additionally, Pakistani intelligence officials claimed that a Haqqani Network commander known as Abdullah Haqqani was also among those killed in the strike, Khaama Press reported. Abdullah is said to run suicide bombers into Afghanistan. The Haqqani Network is a Taliban subgroup that is closely allied with al Qaeda, and is also considered by the Pakistani government to be "good Taliban."

Read more: http://www.longwarjournal.org/archives/2014/10/senior_arab_commande.php#ixzz3HgRe0Uwt

 

[TruthSeeker]

Foreign militants' reported killed in latest US drone strike in Pakistan

By BILL ROGGIO, November 11, 2014

The US reportedly killed six jihadists today in an airstrike in an area of Pakistan's tribal agency of North Waziristan that has in the past served as an al Qaeda command and control center.

The CIA operated, remotely piloted Predators or Reapers launched a pair of missiles at a compound and a vehicle in the village of Dawa Toi in the Datta Khel area of North Waziristan, The Express Tribune reported. The strike destroyed the vehicle and damaged the compound, according to local tribesmen.

Six "local and foreign militants" were killed and three more were wounded in the attack, the Pakistani newspaper reported. The identities of those killed were not disclosed. Al Qaeda, the Taliban, and other jihadist allies known to operate in the area have not announced the deaths of senior leaders or commanders.

Pakistan "condemns" drone strike

Pakistan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs was quick to denounce today's drone strike in Datta Khel.

"The Government of Pakistan condemns the US drone strike that took place at Dawa Toi, North Waziristan Agency on 11 November 2014 at 1546 hours," a press release by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs states. "Pakistan considers such strikes a violation of its sovereignty and territorial integrity, especially at a time when our authorities are engaged in taking decisive action against terrorist elements in North Waziristan Agency. Pakistan demands a cessation of such strikes in future."

The Pakistani government routinely denounces US airstrikes as "a violation of its sovereignty and territorial integrity," even though it is known that the government has given the US permission to launch strikes against al Qaeda in North and South Waziristan.

The Pakistani government typically objects to strikes that target the so-called "good Taliban" such as the Haqqani Network and the Hafiz Gul Bahadar Group. These Taliban factions do not advocate attacking the Pakistani state, but do support jihadist groups that wage war on the government. The so-called good Taliban also support and wage jihad in Afghanistan and India. [See Threat Matrix report, Pakistan condemns drone strike that targeted 'good Taliban.]



Read more: http://www.longwarjournal.org/archives/2014/11/foreign_militants_re.php#ixzz3IsmOtd7B

 

[TruthSeeker]

US launches drone strike in North Waziristan

By BILL ROGGIO, November 20, 2014

The US killed five suspected "militants" in the latest drone strike in Pakistan's jihadist haven of North Waziristan. The strike is just the second by the US in Pakistan this month.

The CIA-operated, remotely piloted Predators or Reapers fired a pair of missiles at a compound "believed to be a hideout of suspected militants" in the Datta Khel area of North Waziristan, Xinhua reported.

Pakistani officials told Dawn that five "militants," including an unnamed "high value target," were killed in the strike. Al Qaeda, the Taliban, the Haqqani Network, and other jihadist groups known to operate in the area have not released a statement announcing the death of any of the groups' leaders.

The Pakistani government, which has condemned US drone strikes in the past, including a Nov. 11 strike in Datta Khel, has not released a statement on today's attack. Several "foreign militants" were reported killed in the Nov. 11 airstrike.



Read more: http://www.longwarjournal.org/archives/2014/11/us_launches_drone_st.php#ixzz3JjQ6jEBi

 

[TruthSeeker]

AQIS announces death of 2 senior leaders in US operation

By BILL ROGGIO, November 21, 2014

Two senior leaders of al Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent (AQIS), the newest branch of the global jihadist group, were killed in a recent US operation along the Afghanistan-Pakistan border, AQIS' spokesman announced yesterday. One of those killed was a former Pakistani Army officer who had been directly linked to Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, an architect of 9/11. The other operative was a doctor who also served as a AQIS propagandist.

Usama Mahmood, the spokesman for AQIS, announced the death of the two leaders in a series of statements that were released today on his Twitter account. The tweets were obtained and translated by the SITE Intelligence Group.

Mahmood announced the "Martyrdom of Dr. Sarbaland (Abu Khalid) with his two young sons, [and] his brother-in-law, a former major in the Pakistani Army Adil Abdul Quoos." He described Qudoos and Sarbaland as "senior leaders of the group."

The two AQIS leaders and the two boys were killed "as a result of an American drop on the Afghan border, followed by bombing from spy aircraft" Mahmood claimed.

According to Xinhua, they were killed in a "drone strike along the [Pakistan-Afghanistan] border on November 9." No strikes were reported in Pakistan on Nov. 9, but there was a strike in the Datta Khel area of North Waziristan on Nov. 11. If US ground forces were involved in the raid, then the operation may have taken place in Afghanistan, as US troops are not reported to have entered Pakistani territory.

Qudoos was known to be active in jihadist circles in the early 2000s while he served as a major in the Pakistani Army's signal corps. He is said to have owned the home in the garrison city of Rawalpindi where Khalid Sheikh Mohammed was arrested during a joint US and Pakistani raid in early 2003. Qudoos' father and brother lived in the residence at the time. His father, Abdul Qudoos Khan, is a doctor who is reported to have been a leader in the pro-Taliban and al Qaeda Jamaat-i-Islami political party; he may have known Osama bin Laden while living in Sudan in the 1990s.

Major Qudoos was arrested in March 2003 along with two colonels, Abdul Ghaffar and Khalid Abbasi, and charged by the Pakistani military with subversive activities. "One of the charges they faced was facilitation of al Qaeda-linked fighters," Imtiaz Gul wrote in his book, Pakistan, Before and After Osama. "They had also put associates of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the alleged 9/11 mastermind arrested from Rawalpindi in 2003, at army's hostels."

After a conviction, the former Pakistani major was sentenced to six years in prison. He was released in 2008 and quickly "immigrated with his family to the fields of jihad until Allah blessed him with martyrdom," Mahmood wrote.

The AQIS spokesman described Sarbaland as both "a skillful surgeon and a strategic ideologue for the group, and he provided many services to the Pakistani and Afghan jihad."



Read more: http://www.longwarjournal.org/archives/2014/11/aqis_announces_death.php#ixzz3Jp0TXyP7

 

[fatman17]

874 killed in US hunt for 24 terrorists in Pakistan: report

• National

14 hours ago BY NEWS DESK

According to data analysis by human rights group Reprieve, the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) killed a whopping 221 people, including 103 children, in Pakistan in the hunt for just four men (three of whom are still alive and a fourth of whom died from natural causes) on Obama’s secret Kill List – a covert US programme that selects individual targets for assassination and requires no public presentation of evidence or judicial oversight.

The report revealed that the Obama administration may have killed as many as 1,147 people during attempts to kill 41 men in Yemen and Pakistan – accounting for a quarter of all possible drone strike casualties in both countries.

Each was targeted and/or reported killed more than three times on average before they were actually killed. In one instance, a person was targeted seven times before eventually being killed. Two others were killed six times and one is believed to still be alive today, said the report.

“Drone strikes have been sold to the American public on the claim that they’re ‘precise’. But they are only as precise as the intelligence that feeds them. There is nothing precise about intelligence that results in the deaths of 28 unknown people, including women and children, for every ‘bad guy’ the US goes after,” said Reprieve’s Jennifer Gibson, who heads the study.

In Pakistan, 24 men were reported killed or targeted multiple times. Missed strikes on these men killed 874 other people, and account for the 35% of all confirmed civilian casualties in Pakistani drone strikes. They also resulted in the deaths of 142 children. Each person was killed an average three times.

To add insult to injury, there are reports that at least three of these men (Ayman al-Zawahiri, Sirajuddin Haqqani, and Jalaluddin Haqani) are still alive, despite multiple attempts to kill them, and that a fourth (Abu Ubaidah al Masri) survived three attempts on his life before eventually dying from natural causes. In total, attempts to kill these four individuals have instead killed 213 other people, including 103 children.

In targeting Ayman al Zawahiri, the CIA killed 76 children and 29 adults. Zawahiri is reportedly still alive. “Abu Ubaidah al Masri died three times in US drone strikes, only he never did,” said the report. Instead, 120 people others died in those strikes. Al Masri eventually died of natural causes. In the six attempts it took the US to kill Qari Hussain, alleged deputy commander of the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), 128 people were killed including 13 children.

Baitullah Mehsud was directly targeted potentially as many as seven times, during the course of which 164 people were killed, including 11 children. His area was targeted at least a further 9 times, resulting in the deaths of 123 additional people.

Further, 82 people, including 14 children, were killed over four repeated attempts to kill Sirajuddin Haqqani, a senior leader of the Haqqani Network. From 2004-2013, children suffered disproportionately in Pakistan. 142 children were killed while pursuing 14 high value targets. Only six of these children died in strikes that successfully hit their target.

“Said another way, the US had only a 21% accuracy rate in killing their intended target when children were present. On average, almost 9 children lost their lives in attempts to kill each of these 14 men,” the report pointed out.

 

[TruthSeeker]

Pakistan condemns drone strike that targeted 'good Taliban' and foreign fighters

By BILL ROGGIO, November 26, 2014

The Pakistani government condemned a US airstrike in North Waziristan that is reported to have killed members of two Taliban groups favored by the Pakistani establishment. The attack also killed several "foreign militants," a term often used to describe members of al Qaeda or other terrorist groups.

Today's strike, which was carried out by CIA-operated, remotely piloted Predators or Reapers, took place in the village of Garga in the Shawal Valley in North Waziristan, Pakistan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs noted in a press release.

Two missiles were fired at a compound in the village, killing eight people and wounding several others, The Express Tribune reported. According to the report, "militants loyal to the warlord [Hafiz] Gul Bahadar and the feared Haqqani Network operate in the area, as well as foreign Uzbek fighters." The Uzbeks are likely members of the al Qaeda- and Taliban-linked Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan.

The identities of those killed in the strike have not been disclosed. No senior Taliban, Haqqani Network, or Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan leaders or operatives are reported to have been killed in the operation.

The Shawal Valley, which spans both North and South Waziristan, is a known haven for al Qaeda and other terror groups operating in the region. A host of Taliban, Pakistani, and foreign terrorist groups gather in the Shawal Valley and then enter Afghanistan to fight US, NATO, and Afghan government forces.

Pakistan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that the government "condemns [the] US drone strike in North Waziristan" and "regards such strikes as a violation of its sovereignty and territorial integrity and demands their immediate cessation."

The Pakistani government routinely denounces US airstrikes as "a violation of its sovereignty and territorial integrity," even though it is known that the government has given the US permission to launch operations against al Qaeda in North and South Waziristan.

The Pakistani government typically objects to strikes that target the so-called "good Taliban" such as the Haqqani Network and the Hafiz Gul Bahadar Group. These Taliban factions do not advocate attacking the Pakistani state, but do support jihadist groups that wage war on the government and shelter foreign terrorist groups such as al Qaeda. The so-called good Taliban also support and wage jihad in Afghanistan and India.

Today's strike took place just three days after the Haqqani Network launched a mass-casualty suicide attack in Afghanistan's Paktika province that killed a local police commander and more than 50 civilians at a soccer match. US officials also told The Long War Journal that the Haqqani Network was responsible for an IED attack that killed two US soldiers in Kabul the next day.

Read more: http://www.longwarjournal.org/archives/2014/11/pakistan_condemns.php#ixzz3KCFWtafi