US Drone strikes in Pakistan are illegal under international law.

[air marshal]

The CIA has cancelled a contract with US private security firm Blackwater for its operatives to load bombs onto drone aircraft in Pakistan and Afghanistan.

- AFP

 

[TruthSeeker]

Drone aircraft in a stepped-up war in Afghanistan and Pakistan

By Peter Grier, Christian Science Monitor Staff writer, December 11, 2009, Washington

It will take some time for 30,000 more US troops to deploy to Afghanistan, as called for by President Obama’s new Afghan strategy. Already in operation, however, may be another part of the plan: an increase in covert strikes against militant targets by missiles fired from unmanned Predator drones.

Evidence of this surfaced Tuesday, with reports that the US launched a drone attack in northwest Pakistan that may have killed a key member of Al Qaeda.

“Nothing has been definitively confirmed, but it’s possible that a senior Al Qaeda figure has died,” a US official told the Reuters news service.

The US government has not officially talked about the strike, nor is it likely to. The drone program is a covert effort run by the CIA. Neither Osama bin Laden nor Ayman al-Zawahiri was the likely target, however, according to wire service reports.

US generals testifying before Congress in recent weeks about the new Afghanistan strategy declined to discuss the issue of missile strikes in public. Again, the program is supposed to be classified. But they freely discussed their appreciation for the intelligence and reconnaissance-gathering abilities of UAVs, which are the flip side of the technology’s abilities.

“These programs are expensive, but they are extraordinarily effective and extraordinarily value-added,” Gen. Stanley McChrystal, commander of US forces in Afghanistan, told the Senate Armed Services Committee on Dec. 8.

According to a recent think-tank report, armed drone strikes have dramatically increased under Mr. Obama – even before his recent decision to bulk up US forces there.

There were 43 such attacks between January and October 2009, according to a New America Foundation report. The report draws on what it deems to be credible local and national media stories about the attacks. That compares with a total of 34 in all of 2008, President Bush’s last full year in office.

Debate over civilian casualties

Since 2006, drone-launched missiles have killed between 750 and 1,000 people in Pakistan, according to the New American report. Of these, about 20 people were leaders of Al Qaeda, Taliban, and associated groups. Overall, about 66 to 68 percent of the people killed were militants, and between 31 and 33 percent were civilians, according to the report.

"It is not possible to differentiate precisely between militant and civilian casualties because the militants live among the population and don’t wear uniforms,” write Peter Bergen and Katherine Tiedemann, New America Foundation research fellows, in the study. US officials dispute the assertion that up to 30 percent of those killed by the unmanned aerial vehicle attacks are civilians.

At a recent appearance at the American Veterans Center’s annual conference, Gen. David Petraeus, commander of US Central Command, said he did not believe civilian casualties in the region have increased.

“With respect to Afghanistan, the loss of innocent civilian life has been dramatically reduced,” said General Petraeus, in response to a question about the utility of the Predator attacks.

Drone aircraft in a stepped-up war in Afghanistan and Pakistan

 

[Metallic]

'Two killed in US drone strike' in NW Pakistan
PAKISTAN - 17 DECEMBER 2009

MIRANSHAH, Pakistan – At least two people were killed Thursday when a missile from an unmanned US aircraft slammed into a suspected militant hideout in Pakistan's northwest tribal belt, security officials said.

The attack struck a house in Dattakhel village, some 30 kilometres (18 miles) west of Miranshah, the main town of the restive North Waziristan tribal district bordering Afghanistan, officials said.

"Two missiles hit a house in Dattakhel area -- two militants were killed," an intelligence official told AFP.

Another security official also confirmed the attack and the toll, adding that the suspected militants were killed as they parked a car outside a house.


Source: AFP

---------- Post added at 03:17 PM ---------- Previous post was at 03:17 PM ----------

'Ten killed' in second US drone strike in Pakistan
PAKISTAN - 17 DECEMBER 2009

MIRANSHAH, Pakistan – Ten suspected militants were killed Thursday in the second US missile strike in a day targeting insurgents in Pakistan's tribal North Waziristan district, security officials said.

"Five US drones fired at least seven missiles, targeting several houses in the Ambarshaga area in North Waziristan and killing more than 10 militants," a senior security official in the area told AFP.

Another security official confirmed the strike and said the death toll may rise.

Earlier Thursday two militants were killed in a similar strike on a house near Miranshah, the main town in the North Waziristan.


Source: AFP

 

[Windjammer]

News coming in on ARY, as multiple drone attack in North Waziristan.

A total of nine missiles were launched at the target, killing 17 people including 7 Foreign fighters.

 

[Hulk]

Big news, is this sudden move by USA? Do you know if GOP has approved this?

 

[Spring Onion]

Yes 15 people killed. They claim it includes an important Al-qaeda member including 7 forigners.
The media is reporting 7 dead but its confirmed 15.


US fired 5 missiles. Some claims they fired 10.

 

[Spring Onion]

7 foreigners among 16 killed in US drone strikes
Updated at: 2212 PST, Thursday, December 17, 2009


MIRAMSHAH: Sixteen people where killed, including seven foreigners when unmanned US aircrafts fired 10 missiles at a house in North Waziristan on Thursday.

According to sources, the US drones targeted some houses situated in Degan and Ambor Shaga areas off 25 kilometers from Miranshah, headquarter of North Waziristan.

Following the drone strikes, as people were heading toward the targeted house, 10 back-to-back missiles were fired, killing 16 people.

According to reports, five to six pilotless aircrafts were still hovering over North Waziristan.

Earlier in the day, two people were killed in a US drone strike, which hit the house of a tribesman in Datta Kheil Kay.

 

[TaimiKhan]

It seems someone really important was targeted as this is a very massive attack making sure no one survived or chances reduced considerably.

Since ISI got involved in the drone strike thing, the civilian casualties have reduced considerably and accuracy has gotten better also.

 

[SSGPA1]

Iraq insurgents 'hack into video feeds from US drones' ​

Insurgents in Iraq have hacked into live video feeds from unmanned American drone aircraft, US media reports say.

Shia fighters are said to have used off-the-shelf software programs such as SkyGrabber to capture the footage.

The hacking was possible because the remotely flown planes have an unprotected communications link.

Obtaining such video feeds could provide insurgents with information about sites the military might be planning to target.

The breach of the Pentagon surveillance system's security is said to have come to light when footage shot by a Predator drone was found on the laptop of an apprehended Iraqi insurgent.

A senior Pentagon official is quoted as saying that although militants were able to view the video, there was no evidence that they were able to jam electronic signals from the aircraft or take control of them.

The unnamed official said the US defence department had addressed the issue by working to encrypt all video feeds provided by drones in Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Predator drones can fly for several hours, remotely controlled by pilots thousands of miles away. The aircraft can carry out surveillance and attack targets with on-board missiles.

Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman said the US military continually evaluated the technologies it used and quickly corrected any potential problems it discovered.

"There's potential vulnerabilities in all of our systems," he said.

BBC News - Iraq insurgents 'hack into video feeds from US drones'

 

[abbasniazi]

This action of the drones seconds the statement by the US president to increase drone attacks within pakistani tribal areas.

Pakistan must hold US back otherwise this would be a new begining of no end.

 

[TruthSeeker]

U.S. military drone security breach "fixed": official

Thu Dec 17, 2009 11:54am EST

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Pentagon has closed a security breach that allowed insurgents to hack into data feeds from pilotless "drone" aircraft that provide real-time video of war zones, a U.S. defense official said on Thursday.

The comments followed a report in the Wall Street Journal that revealed Shi'ite fighters in Iraq used software that cost as little as $26 to intercept the video feeds, potentially allowing them to monitor U.S. military operations.

"It is an old issue that was addressed and fixed," the U.S. defense official said when asked about the article.

The article said U.S. military personnel in Iraq discovered the problem last year after apprehending a Shi'ite insurgent who had digital files of drone video feeds on his laptop. More files were found on other militants' laptops in July.

Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman declined to discuss details of the article, or intelligence matters more broadly. But he defended the expanding use of drone aircraft in Iraq and Afghanistan, which provide "eyes in the sky" to track enemy movements and keep U.S. troops out of harm's way.

"Every capability comes with its advantages, disadvantages, benefits as well as potential weaknesses," Whitman said.

"As you develop those (technologies) you have to be mindful of how the enemy can counteract any technology that you have. That's why you always have a constant review process in place to not only improve that capability but address any vulnerabilities it may have."

Publicly traded companies that manufacture the pilotless drone aircraft and sensors include Lockheed Martin Corp, Northrop Grumman Corp and L-3 Communications Holdings Inc.

(Reporting by Phil Stewart; Editing by Eric Beech)

U.S. military drone security breach fixed: official | Reuters

 

[TruthSeeker]

U.S. drone strikes kill al-Qaeda commander


By Griff Witte and Haq Nawaz Khan
Washington Post Foreign Service
Thursday, December 17, 2009; 12:29 PM

ISLAMABAD -- A series of U.S. drone strikes in the tribal area of North Waziristan on Thursday killed at least 16 people, including Arab members of al-Qaeda, Pakistani intelligence officials said.

The attacks included one set of strikes that officials said involved 10 missiles and five drones -- an unusual concentration of firepower on a single target. Fifteen people died in those strikes, and one person was killed in a separate, earlier strike.

The attacks come as the United States is pressuring Pakistan to do more to combat militancy in North Waziristan. U.S. officials have threatened to escalate a covert program of drone strikes in Pakistan's semi-autonomous tribal areas if Pakistan refuses.

So far, Pakistani authorities have said that their military is stretched thin by an operation in South Waziristan, and that now is not the time to expand the campaign into the adjacent territory to the north.

That area is the suspected home of the top al-Qaeda leadership, as well as the network of Afghan insurgent leader Siraj Haqqani, who is believed to be behind some of the most potent attacks against U.S. troops in Afghanistan.

In the larger attack Thursday, drones fired at four houses in the Datta Khel area of North Waziristan, about 20 miles from the Afghan border, local officials said. Of the 15 dead, up to seven were Arabs and one was a well-known al-Qaeda commander named Zuhaib al-Zahibi, according to an intelligence official in Miranshah, the main town in North Waziristan.

The area is extremely remote and is under the control of Hafiz Gul Bahadur, a local Taliban commander who has focused his fighters on attacking U.S. troops in Afghanistan.

Mohammad Alam, a teacher who lives in a nearby village, said the drones had been hovering over the area for several hours Thursday evening when the first missile was fired. After other militants rushed to the scene of the initial attack, he said, additional missiles were fired at them. "Here everyone is terrified of these attacks, which were feared for a few days," he said.

The U.S. government does not officially acknowledge its program of drone attacks in Pakistan. The government here officially condemns the attacks but cooperates with the CIA in gathering intelligence needed to carry out the strikes.

U.S. drone strikes kill 16 in Pakistan - washingtonpost.com

 

[Metallic]

'Seven killed in US missile strike in NW Pakistan'
PAKISTAN - 18 DECEMBER 2009

MIRANSHAH, Pakistan – Seven suspected militants were killed Friday in the third US drone missile strike on Pakistan's tribal district of North Waziristan in two days, security officials said.

The strike hit a village in the Dattakhel region close to North Waziristan's main town Miranshah -- the same northwestern area where two strikes hours apart on Thursday killed at least 14 militants and destroyed their hideouts.

Islamabad is under growing US pressure to dismantle Islamist extremist networks along its lawless and porous border with Afghanistan.

"The US drone fired four missiles hitting a house, a compound and some makeshift buildings. At least seven militants were killed and five were injured," a security official in the northwest capital Peshawar told AFP.

"It looks like some key Taliban or Al-Qaeda figures are hiding in this area and that's why the drones are targeting this area again and again."

An intelligence official in Miranshah confirmed the death toll and said that eight militants were wounded.

"Our informers told us that these militants were gathered to attend the funeral prayers of those killed in yesterday's missile attacks," he added.


Source: AFP


File Photo: U.S. MQ-9 Reaper Hunter/Killer Drone

 

[EjazR]

Daily Times - Leading News Resource of Pakistan: NWA drone strike kills eight

MIRANSHAH/KHAR: A US drone fired four missiles in Shagga village of North Waziristan on Friday, killing eight Taliban and injuring five others. The US drone struck at around 3:30pm in Pyekhel area of Dattakhel tehsil – 25 kilometres west of Miranshah. Sources said those killed in the strike – the third in 24 hours – were Punjabi Taliban. “The US drone fired four missiles, hitting a house, a compound and some makeshift buildings,” a security official in Peshawar told the AFP news agency. “It looks like some key Taliban or Al Qaeda figures are hiding in this area, and that’s why the drones are targeting this area again and again.” An official told AFP, “Our informers told us that the Taliban had gathered to attend the funeral prayers of those killed in yesterday’s missile attacks,” he said. Separately, security forces shelled Taliban hideouts in various areas of Mamoond and Nawagai tehsils of Bajaur Agency.

 

[Metallic]

US drone strike kills 5 in NW Pakistan
PAKISTAN - 26 DECEMBER 2009

MIRANSHAH, Pakistan – At least five people were killed on Saturday when missiles from an unmanned US aircraft hit a suspected militant compound in Pakistan's northwest tribal belt, security officials said.

The missiles struck a house in Saidgi village of North Waziristan tribal district, which borders Afghanistan, officials said.

"Two missiles hit a house, five militants were killed," an intelligence official told AFP.

Another security official confirmed the drone attack and the toll, adding that the house belonged to a local tribesman named Asmatullah, who, he said, had links with Taliban militants.


Source: AFP