US Drone strikes in Pakistan are illegal under international law.

[TruthSeeker]

US strike kills 4 terrorists in North Waziristan

By Bill Roggio, December 26, 2009 11:34 AM

The US killed four Islamist terrorists in the first airstrike in more than a week in Pakistan's Taliban-controlled tribal agency of North Waziristan.

The strike, carried out by unmanned Predator or Reaper attack aircraft, hit a Taliban safe house in the Saidgai region in North Waziristan. Two Hellfire missiles were reported to have been launched in the airstrike.

Four "extremists" were killed in the attack and two more were wounded, according to a report in Geo News.

The Saidgai region in North Waziristan is under the control of Taliban commander Hafiz Gul Bahadar. The US has conducted two strikes in the town of Danda Saidgai since 2006.

The March, 1, 2006, attack in Danda Saidgai, one of the rare air assaults inside Pakistan by US special operations forces, targeted a training camp that housed hundreds of foreign fighters and served as a training center for the Black Guard, the specially trained bodyguards for Osama bin Laden, Ayman al Zawahiri, and other senior al Qaeda leaders.

Al Qaeda commander Imad Asad, the commander of the Black Guard camp, was killed along with scores of al Qaeda fighters in a special operations assault on a military complex which housed hundreds of foreign fighters and served as a training center.

So far this year, the US has carried out 51 airstrikes inside Pakistan. In all of 2008, 36 strikes were carried out. Since the US ramped up cross-border attacks in August 2008, 16 senior al Qaeda and Taliban leaders have been killed.

Read more: US strike kills 4 terrorists in North Waziristan - The Long War Journal

 

[Metallic]

***UPDATE***

US drone strike 'kills 13' in Pakistan
PAKISTAN - 27 DECEMBER 2009

MIRANSHAH, Pakistan — A US missile attack that demolished a compound in Pakistan's tribal belt used by militants crossing into Afghanistan killed 13 fighters, Pakistani security officials said Sunday.

A US drone slammed two missiles into the building on Saturday in Saidgi village, seven kilometres (four miles) north of Miranshah, the main town of North Waziristan tribal district bordering Afghanistan, officials said.

"Taliban have recovered more dead bodies from the debris. We have reports that a total of 13 militants were killed and three injured," an intelligence official in Miranshah told AFP on condition of anonymity.

"One of the local commanders, Abdur Rehman, was also killed," he added.

The compound was used by local militants attached to the Haqqani network, which has attacked US troops in Afghanistan, said a senior security official.

Other security officials confirmed 13 were killed in the strike, including a local commander, but it was unclear if any foreigners were among the dead.

Mosques in Miranshah announced that Rehman was "martyred" in the strike and that his funeral prayers would be held in Saidgi, an AFP reporter said.

The US military does not as a rule confirm drone attacks, which US officials say have killed a number of top-level militants.

At least three suspected US strikes in 10 days have struck North Waziristan, where Islamabad is under growing US pressure to take action against the Haqqani network and other extremists who infiltrate Afghanistan to attack.

Some US officials and regional analysts suspect Pakistan's top spy agency, the Inter-Services Intelligence, maintains ties to the group's leader Jalaluddin Haqqani, considering him a useful asset in Afghanistan.

In October, Pakistan sent about 30,000 troops into battle in South Waziristan, following a significant campaign to uproot homegrown Taliban from in and around the northwestern valley of Swat.

Although Pakistani troops fight militants across much of its semi-autonomous tribal belt on the Afghan border, North Waziristan has seen so far only limited air strikes and no major ground offensive.


Source: AFP

 

[Metallic]

U.S. drone attack kills 2 militants in Pakistan
PAKISTAN - 31 DECEMBER 2009

MIRANSHAH, Pakistan – A suspected U.S. drone aircraft killed at least two militants in Pakistan's North Waziristan on Thursday, a security official said.

The strike, on a house where militants were believed to be hiding, also wounded several people, said the official.


Source: Reuters

 

[TruthSeeker]

US kills 4 in North Waziristan airstrike

By Bill Roggio,December 31, 2009 8:40 PM

The US killed four people in an airstrike in Pakistan's Taliban-controlled tribal agency of North Waziristan.

The attack, carried out by unmanned Predator or Reaper attack aircraft, hit a Taliban safe house in the town of Machi Khel near Mir Ali in North Waziristan. Two Hellfire missiles were reported to have been launched in the airstrike.

“A US drone fired two missiles, which hit a compound of a local tribesman, Karim Khan, killing four people and injuring two others,” a senior Pakistani security official told AFP.

No senior al Qaeda or Taliban leaders were reported killed, and US officials contacted by The Long War Journal would not comment on the target of the strike.

The town of Mir Ali is a known stronghold of al Qaeda leader Abu Kasha al Iraqi, an Iraqi national who is also known as Abu Akash. He has close links to the Taliban and the Haqqani Network. The Haqqani Network and Hafiz Gul Bahadar also have influence in the Mir Ali region.

Abu Kasha serves as the key link between al Qaeda's Shura Majlis, or executive council, and the Taliban. His responsibilities have expanded to assisting in facilitating al Qaeda's external operations against the West.

Read more: US kills 4 in North Waziristan airstrike - The Long War Journal

 

[PakSher]

Yes, these missile strikes are great until all of the illegal terrorists are accounted for.

 

[air marshal]

Two US drone strikes killing at least 5 in North Waziristan in last 24 hours

A suspected US missile struck a car in a northwest tribal region Friday, killing three men in the second such attack in less than a day. Both missile strikes occurred in North Waziristan.

A missile fired by a pilotless U.S. drone aircraft on Friday killed at least three militants travelling in a car in North Waziristan region on the Afghan border, security officials said.

"The bodies were burnt beyond recognition. We are trying to determine their identity," said one security official. On Thursday night, a drone attack killed at least two militants in the same region.

The one Friday happened near Mir Ali, a major town in the region, said two intelligence officials who spoke to a US news agency on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak on the record. Shortly after Friday's attack, Taliban arrived at scene of the attack in the village of Ghundi and moved the bodies to an undisclosed location, the officials said.

The United States carried out at least 50 drone air strikes in northwestern border regions in 2009, killing about 415 people, including many foreign militants, according to tally reports from Pakistani officials and residents.

In 2008, there were 32 strikes that killed about 240 people. Pakistan worries the strikes could undermine efforts to deal with militancy because the civilian casualties inflame public anger and bolster support for the fighters. Pakistan has pressed the United States to provide it with drones to allow it to conduct its own attacks.

Two US drone strikes killing at least 5 in North Waziristan in last 24 hours | Pakistan | News | Newspaper | Daily | English | Online

 

[air marshal]

Over 700 killed in 44 drone strikes in 2009
Saturday, 02 Jan, 2010

PESHAWAR: Of the 44 predator strikes carried out by US drones in the tribal areas of Pakistan over the past 12 months, only five were able to hit their actual targets, killing five key Al-Qaeda and Taliban leaders, but at the cost of over 700 innocent civilians.

According to the statistics compiled by Pakistani authorities, the Afghanistan-based US drones killed 708 people in 44 predator attacks targeting the tribal areas between January 1 and December 31, 2009.

For each Al Qaeda and Taliban terrorist killed by US drones, 140 innocent Pakistanis also had to die. Over 90 per cent of those killed in the deadly missile strikes were civilians, claim authorities.

The success percentage for the drone hits during 2009 was hardly 11 per cent. On average, 58 civilians were killed in these attacks every month, 12 persons every week and almost two people every day. Most of the attacks were carried out on the basis of human intelligence, reportedly provided by the Pakistani and Afghan tribesmen, who are spying for the US-led allied forces in Afghanistan.

Of the five successful predator attacks carried out in 2009, the first one came on January 1, which reportedly killed two senior al-Qaeda leaders – Usama al-Kin and Sheikh Ahmed Salim – both wanted by the American Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). Kin was the chief operational commander of Al-Qaeda in Pakistan and had replaced Abu Faraj Al Libi after his arrest in 2004.

The second successful drone attack was conducted on August 5 in South Waziristan that killed the most wanted fugitive chief of the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan Baitullah Mehsud along with his wife.

The US State Department had announces a $5million head money for information leading to Baitullah, making him the only Pakistani fugitive with the head money separately announced by Islamabad and Washington. –DawnNews

 

[TruthSeeker]

but at the cost of over 700 innocent civilians.

According to the statistics compiled by Pakistani authorities, the Afghanistan-based US drones killed 708 people in 44 predator attacks targeting the tribal areas between January 1 and December 31, 2009.

For each Al Qaeda and Taliban terrorist killed by US drones, 140 innocent Pakistanis also had to die. Over 90 per cent of those killed in the deadly missile strikes were civilians, claim authorities.

This is total BS. No one knows who has been killed in these strikes accept that they are very important people to the Taliban and al Qaeda terrorists who immediately seal off the strike areas and remove and bury most of the bodies before anyone with any objectivity can see who was killed. Such "news" reports are simply terrorist propaganda. The fact that such reports are bandied about and believed by the "average" Pakistani is a big part of the problem of having the terrorism problem understood by the Pakistan street for what it truly is, and that is not the bad USA killing innocent Pakistanis!

 

[TruthSeeker]

Senior Taliban leader reported killed in New Year's Eve strike

By Bill Roggio, LWJ, January 2, 2010 1:38 AM

Haji Omar Khan, a senior Taliban leader in South Waziristan who strong ties to Mullah Omar, was killed in the Dec. 31, 2009, airstrike on a safe house in the town of Machi Khel, according to his family. The body is being repatriated to his home town in South Waziristan.

The New Year's Eve strike is also said to have killed the son of Karim Khan, the tribal leader who ran the safe house, and two other people, according to The Frontier Post.

US intelligence officials contacted by The Long War Journal would neither confirm nor deny Haji Omar's death, but one official did say Haji Omar is being targeted.

The US previously targeted Haji Omar in a strike on Oct. 26, 2008. He was rumored to have been killed but the report was never confirmed.

Haji Omar was based in Shakai in South Waziristan, before the Pakistani military launched an operation in mid-October. He and his followers then sought shelter in North Waziristan. This occurred despite the peace agreement between the government and the North Waziristan Taliban stating they would not shelter Taliban fighters fleeing the South Waziristan operation.

Haji Omar was based in the town of Shakai in South Waziristan. Like many Taliban leaders, he earned his stripes by battling against the Soviet Red Army in Bagram and Kabul, Afghanistan, during the 1980s. He was wounded several times but continued to return to the fight.

After the Soviet withdrawal, Omar left Afghanistan for Pakistan as the Afghan warlords battled for power. He returned after Mullah Omar, the leader of the Afghan Taliban, took power in 1996.

Haji Omar forged close links with Mullah Omar while serving as one of his senior lieutenants. He lived in Kandahar and took an Afghan wife. After the US invasion of Afghanistan in 2001, Omar fled to his base in South Waziristan. From there he carved out his enclave and worked to build the Pakistani Taliban as a formidable fighting force. His fighters cross the border to fight US and allied forces in Afghanistan.

Haji Omar's goal was the establishment of a Taliban Islamic sharia state in Pakistan's tribal areas as well as in Afghanistan. To accomplish his goal in South Waziristan, Omar admitted that his forces target and “slaughter” opposing tribal leaders that he labels as US spies.

"Yes, we treat all American allies as enemy," he told the BBC in 2006. "We have caught many people who were trying to help the Americans, either directly or through Pakistan. We do not waste our bullets on them. We slaughter them."

Haji Omar had strong ties to Pakistani Taliban leader Baitullah Mehsud, who was killed in a US airstrike in August 2009, as well as to the powerful Haqqani family, which is run by Jalaluddin and Siraj Haqqani. Haji Omar served as a member of a so-called tribal peace committee to negotiate peace accords with the Pakistani government from 2004 to 2006.

He maintained close links with Mullah Omar, as well as with al Qaeda. His tribal areas served as a safe haven for al Qaeda leaders and fighters. His brother, Noor Islam Khan, is also a Taliban leader with close ties to Arab and Uzbek al Qaeda members. In an interview with the BBC in 2006, Haji Omar denied he had links to "the Arabs."

Read more: Senior Taliban leader reported killed in New Year's Eve strike - The Long War Journal

 

[TruthSeeker]

US airstrike kills 2 Taliban fighters in Mir Ali in Pakistan

By Bill Roggio, LWJ, January 3, 2010 11:52 AM

The US has conducted yet another airstrike in the Taliban-controlled tribal agency of North Waziristan.

Two Taliban fighters are reported to have been killed after US strike aircraft, likely unmanned Predators or Reapers, struck a safe house in the village of Mosakki in the Mir Ali region of North Waziristan.

"One US drone fired two missiles on a house.... The target was this house and a car parked outside was also destroyed," a senior Pakistan security official told AFP. "Two militants were killed in the attack and we have reports that more militants were hiding there, so the death toll could rise."

The strike targeted "the house of a person known as Sadiq Noor in Mir Ali," Geo News reported. Sadiq Noor is a senior Taliban commander in North Waziristan. Both he and Hafiz Gul Bahadar were the principal signatories of the 2006 peace agreement between the North Waziristan Taliban and the Pakistani government. It is not known if Noor was killed in the strike.

Noor is the second senior Taliban commander targeted in the Mir Ali region in three days. On Jan. 1, the US killed Haji Omar Khan, a close ally of Mullah Omar and Hakeemullah Mehsud, the leader of the Movement of the Taliban in Pakistan. Haji Omar sought refuge in North Waziristan after the military launched an offensive in South Waziristan in mid-October.

Today's attack is the third since the Haqqani Network conducted a suicide attack inside a CIA compound at Combat Outpost Chapman in Khost province, Afghanistan, on Dec. 30, 2009. Seven CIA employees, including the base commander, and a US civilian were killed in the attack. The suicide bomber is said to have been an informant who lived in North Waziristan and who provided intelligence on al Qaeda and the Taliban on both sides of the border.

The town of Mir Ali is a known stronghold of al Qaeda leader Abu Kasha al Iraqi, an Iraqi national who is also known as Abu Akash. He has close links to the Taliban and the Haqqani Network. The Haqqani Network and Hafiz Gul Bahadar also have influence in the Mir Ali region.

Read more: US airstrike kills 2 Taliban fighters in Mir Ali in Pakistan - The Long War Journal

 

[S-2]

Well, we all know of A.M.'s considerable beef with Bill Roggio but these reports provide new information nonetheless.

A new name, for instance, to my lexicon-Abu Kasha Al Iraqi and his A.Q. domination of Mir Ali. Now whether Mr. Kasha Al Iraqi actually has a strangle-hold on Mir Ali is probably less significant than the fact that somebody's aware of this guy and his links to both Haqqani and Bahadar.

It would be nice to speculate that Sadiq Noor found his martyrdom but that's all it would be-speculation. Still, that'd be a modestly incremental contribution to our safety given the comfort by which these men would otherwise reside amidst safe haven.

Thanks.

 

[TruthSeeker]

Foreigners among five killed in NWA drone strike

Monday, January 04, 2010, By Mushtaq Yusufzai & Malik Mumtaz Khan

PESHAWAR/MIRAMSHAH: Five people, two of them locals and three foreigners, were killed and a few others sustained injuries in a missile attack by a CIA-operated spy aircraft on a Hujra and an adjacent house in Mosaki village in Mirali subdivision, North Waziristan, on Sunday evening.

An official of the political administration and residents of the Mosaki village told The News by telephone that four drones were continuously flying over the town since Sunday afternoon.They said a drone fired two missiles at the Hujra of local tribesmen, Jan Roz and his brother Sadiq Noor. They said a nearby house was also damaged.

According to villagers, none of them were able to leave their houses to join the rescue work as four drones were flying over the town even an hour after the missile attack on the village. They said the Hujra was destroyed in the missile strike and a car parked there was also damaged.

The villagers later retrieved five bodies from the rubble of the two buildings — the Hujra and the house. One of the slain persons was said to be the grandson of Jan Roz. The second was his family member. The villagers said their bodies had been mutilated beyond recognition.

The three others died in the attack were reportedly foreigners, but there were no immediate details about their names and nationality. They were staying at the Hujra when they came under the drone attack.

Local villagers, however, claimed all of them were family members of Jan Roz and his brother Sadiq Noor. It was said to be the third attack by the US spy planes in the year 2010 in Mirali, North Waziristan.

Foreigners among five killed in NWA drone strike

 

[TruthSeeker]

Pakistan urges united reaction after CIA blast

By Farhan Bokhari in Peshawar and Tom Braithwaite in Washington

Last updated: January 3 2010 19:32

A senior Pakistani security official has urged the US to work with Islamabad to coordinate its response to Wednesday’s suicide attack on a CIA base in Khost, southern Afghanistan, “to prevent the (US-Pakistan) alliance from unnecessary and further friction”.

The attack was linked by some US officials to a militant network created by Jalaluddin Haqqani, a legendary Afghan warlord widely believed to be close to Taliban militants while also maintaining ties with Pakistan’s security and intelligence establishment.

After Wednesday’s attack, Pakistan’s security officials have moved to distance the country from any links to the Haqqani network but have also warned against an escalation in attacks by pilot-less US drones on the country’s territory.

“If the Americans step up the attacks at what they suspect are locations of Haqqani’s men inside Pakistan, that would be a risky step,” one security official in the provincial city of Peshawar told the Financial Times. “The Americans can not simply go by assumptions. First, all the facts must be ascertained.”

A US State Department official said: “We do not comment on operations but it should be clear that we stand ready to take action against terrorists and their networks when opportunities present themselves. Our counter-terrorist efforts are coordinated with foreign governments, including with Pakistan, as needed.”

An official in the provincial government of the North West Frontier Province said Pakistan had so far neither been consulted by the US for information following the Khost attack nor has Pakistan volunteered any information. “Our position is very clear. We are not connected to anyone who seeks to target the US in Afghanistan. We have a carefully built alliance with the US, we can’t afford to disturb or indeed disrupt that.”

“There is a contradiction right now,” he said. “You have the US calling us (Pakistan) a close ally but the Americans are also intensifying their drone attacks which are very unpopular among our public. To make this alliance work better, there has to be closer coordination and a sincere effort to iron out all differences.”

Meanwhile, a missile fired by a suspected US drone killed two militants on Sunday in Pakistan’s tribal region of North Waziristan on the Afghan border, officials told Reuters. North Waziristan is a known sanctuary for al-Qaeda and Taliban militants.

FT.com / Asia-Pacific / Pakistan - Pakistan urges united reaction after CIA blast

 

[TruthSeeker]

US kills 11 in latest North Waziristan strike

By Bill Roggio, LWJ, January 6, 2010 8:05 AM

Eleven terrorists, including two "foreigners," were killed in the latest US airstrike in Pakistan's Taliban-controlled tribal agency of North Waziristan.

Unmanned US aircraft struck a Taliban training camp in the Datta Khel region in North Waziristan twice today. The second strike hit the Taliban as they attempted to recovery bodies from the first strike.

"Two foreigners died in the initial attack," a senior Pakistani security official told AFP. "Five militants were killed in the previous attack and six in this attack."

The identity of the foreigners, a term used to describe Arab members of al Qaeda, has not been disclosed. No senior al Qaeda or Taliban leaders have been reported killed.

Today's strike is the third this year and the fourth in one week. It is also the third strike since an al Qaeda/Haqqani Network suicide bomber killed seven CIA officials, including the station chief, and a Jordanian intelligence officer, in an attack at Combat Outpost Chapman in Khost province. The outpost was used to gather intelligence for strikes against al Qaeda and the Taliban in Pakistan and Afghanistan.

The US has ramped up the strikes against al Qaeda and the Taliban in Pakistan's tribal areas since August 2008. There were 53 strikes in 2009, 36 in 2008, and 10 from 2004-2007 combined [See LWJ report, "Analysis: US air campaign in Pakistan heats up" for more information].

North Waziristan has become the focal point of the US air campaign in Pakistan. Since the Aug. 5 strike in South Waziristan that killed Baitullah Mehsud, the leader of Movement of the Taliban in Pakistan, 18 of the 22 reported airstrikes have taken place in North Waziristan, while the other four were in South Waziristan.

The Datta Khel region in South Waziristan is a known haven for al Qaeda and allied Central Asian jihadi groups. The US has conducted multiple strikes in the Datta Khel region, which is administered by Hafiz Gul Bahadar and the Haqqani Network. The latest strike in Datta Khel, on Dec. 17, 2009, targeted Sheikh Saeed al Saudi, Osama bin Laden's brother-in-law and a member of al Qaeda's Shura Majlis, or executive council. Al Saudi is thought to have survived the strike.

Jani Khel borders the Jani Khel region in the settled district of Bannu. Jani Khel has long been a strategic meeting place and safe haven for al Qaeda and the Taliban. Jani Khel was identified as the headquarters for al Qaeda's Shura Majlis back in 2007. Ayman al Zawahiri, al Qaeda's second in command, has operated in the Jani Khel region. The US has struck al Qaeda safe houses in Jani Khel twice since last year. These strikes are the only two Predator attacks that have occurred outside of Pakistan's tribal areas.

The town of Jani Khel is a known haven for al Qaeda leaders and fighters. Senior al Qaeda operative Abdullah Azzam al Saudi was killed in a Predator strike in Jani Khel on Nov. 19, 2008. Azzam served as a liaison between al Qaeda and the Taliban operating in Pakistan's northwest.

Al Qaeda is known to have deposited its donations received from Europe into the Bayt al Mal, or Bank of Money, in Jani Khel, according to a report at the NEFA Foundation. The Bayt al Mal served as al Qaeda's treasury.

"The money can only be released on Osama bin Laden's direction, and when such an order is given, it is Mustafa Abu Yazid who executes it," the NEFA Foundation report said. Yazid, who is also known as Sheikh Saeed al Masri, is the leader of al Qaeda in Afghanistan and also serves as the group's chief financial operative.

Read more: US kills 11 in latest North Waziristan strike - The Long War Journal

 

[TruthSeeker]

U.S. senators laud use of drones against suspected militants

January 7, 2010 -- Updated 1506 GMT (2306 HKT)

Kabul, Afghanistan (CNN) -- Missiles shot from pilotless planes are an effective tool against suspected militants, two U.S. senators said Thursday.

"The drone strikes are part of an overall set of tactics which make up the strategy for victory," said Arizona Republican John McCain. "They have been very effective, and they have knocked al Qaeda and other Islamic extremist organizations off balance."

Sen. Joe Lieberman, an independent from Connecticut, said the drones were "a critical element of our effort, our campaign, our strategy to deny the terrorists who are terrorizing the people of Afghanistan and Pakistan a safe haven from which to strike them and us in the United States."

The senators made their comments during a congressional visit that took them to Iraq and Afghanistan. Next on their itinerary is Pakistan.

Since President Obama took office last January, there have been reports of more than 40 attacks by Hellfire missiles fired from drones, an increase over the approximately 30 missile strikes launched in 2008 during the Bush administration.

A U.S. official confirmed last month that the White House has authorized an expansion of the drone missile program.

U.S. senators laud use of drones against suspected militants - CNN.com