US Drone strikes in Pakistan are illegal under international law.

[JanjaWeed]

the news of moving the SAMs to the border itself sounded like a gimmick...any sensible force would not risk that...attacking a US machine would result in fatal consequences for themselves.

so it was all storm before calm??

 

[Man of Thoughts]

How long can Pakistan go on like this. The Pakistani government and military is making a mockery out of Pakistan.

This goes untill we Found another Quaid-e-Azam.......

 

[brahmastra]

US missiles strikes kill 11 in Pakistan


DERA ISMAIL KHAN: Intelligence officials say four suspected US missiles strikes have killed 11 militants in northwestern Pakistan near the Afghan border.

The officials say the strikes occurred Wednesday in the Datta Khel area of North Waziristan tribal region.

The first attack targeted a house in Lataka village, killing four militants. Minutes later, a drone attacked a vehicle nearby, killing two foreign militants.

Another attack 15 minutes later against a second vehicle killed three militants.

The final attack occurred a half-hour later and targeted militants collecting bodies from the house destroyed in the first strike. The attack killed two militants.

The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to talk to media.—AP

 

[Vassnti]

Wed Oct 13, 2010 5:37PM

Another non-UN-sanctioned US drone attack in Pakistan has killed at least five people and wounded several others in the troubled northwestern parts of the country.

Pakistani security officials said an unmanned US plane fired two missiles at a house in North Waziristan.

The death toll is expected to rise as some of those injured are reportedly in critical condition.

Senior political and military officials in Islamabad have called on Washington to reconsider its policy, repeatedly condemning the attacks as a violation of Pakistan's sovereignty.

"We believe that they are counter-productive and also a violation of our sovereignty," Pakistan's Foreign Ministry spokesman Abdul Basit said last week.

AFP


MIRANSHAH, Pakistan — A US drone attack on a compound in Pakistan's northwestern tribal belt on Wednesday killed at least five militants, local security officials said.

The target of the drone strike was a house in Inzarkas village in Dattakhel area, around 35 kilometres (20 miles) west of Miranshah, the main town of North Waziristan.

"The drone fired two missiles on a house, at least five militants have been killed," an intelligence official in Miranshah told AFP.

A security official in Peshawar also confirmed the attack and the death toll.

The strike is the latest in a series of US operations in the region which are believed to be targeting Taliban and Al-Qaeda extremists plotting attacks on Europe.

Residents in Miranshah said drones were still hovering in the sky while militants have surrounded the area after the attack.

A security official in Peshawar said a vehicle parked outside the house was also destroyed in the attack.

The Jawa Report: US drone attack kills five militants in Pakistan: officials

Perhaps not so innocent, just because they are in Miranshah doesnt mean they are Pakistani's either.

Though Pakistan has secretly shared intelligence with the United States for the drone strikes and has asked the United States to share the technology with it, the government publicly condemns the attacks.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/12/world/asia/12drone.html?_r=1

Each attack draws howls of protest from Pakistan, which publicly claims the US strikes are a breach of its national sovereignty.

But officials from both countries quietly admit that Pakistan's civilian Government has come to recognise the benefits of co-operating with the US drone strikes, as it struggles to contain a Taliban insurgency that has spread from its border lands into the North West Frontier Province and some of its largest cities.

A Western source told The Times the CIA "runs Predator flights routinely" from Shamsi.

Local journalist Safar Khan said: "We can see the planes flying from the base. The area around the base is a high-security zone and no one is allowed there."

He said the outer perimeter of Shamsi was guarded by Pakistani military, but the airfield itself was under the control of US forces.

Pakistan allowing CIA to use airbase for drone strikes | The Australian

So not so unauthorised.

Perhaps the heading should be Pakistan allows another drone strike on suspected militants?

 

[notorious_eagle]

Pakistan should take strict actions against this...killing of civilians in that region in this kind of attacks are being heard too often now.

Read the article carefully, militants were killed not civilians. I fully 100% support these drone strikes, the ideal scenario would be Pakistan Army operating them but if not, let the Americans do it. These pigs pose the biggest threat to our sovereignty, the Americans just took out 5 animals whom could have potentially blown themselves up in our major cities killing hundreds of innocent people with them. This WOT needs to end; US and Pak should start hitting these animals as hard as they can, our people have suffered enough.

 

[GUNNER]

MIRANSHAH, Pakistan, Oct 15, 2010 (AFP) - A US drone missile strike killed at least three militants in Pakistan's North Waziristan tribal district along the Afghan border on Friday, Pakistani security officials said.

Two missiles were fired at Machi Khel village, around 30 kilometres (20 miles) east of Miranshah, the main town in the district that is considered the biggest fortress of Taliban and Al-Qaeda militants in Pakistan.

Senior security officials said the target was a vehicle but two local intelligence officials said the target was a house in the village.

"At least three militants were killed. The US drone fired two missiles. The target was a vehicle," one of the senior officials told AFP.

Local security officials said the missiles destroyed a house and put the death toll at five.

 

[IBRIS]

MIRANSHAH, Pakistan, Oct 15, 2010 (AFP) - A US drone missile strike killed at least three militants in Pakistan's North Waziristan tribal district along the Afghan border on Friday, Pakistani security officials said.

Two missiles were fired at Machi Khel village, around 30 kilometres (20 miles) east of Miranshah, the main town in the district that is considered the biggest fortress of Taliban and Al-Qaeda militants in Pakistan.

Senior security officials said the target was a vehicle but two local intelligence officials said the target was a house in the village.

"At least three militants were killed. The US drone fired two missiles. The target was a vehicle," one of the senior officials told AFP.

Local security officials said the missiles destroyed a house and put the death toll at five.

UPDATE
US drone attacks kill four in North Waziristan

US drones carried out two attacks in the Mir Ali district of North Waziristan on Friday.

MIR ALI: US drone attacks killed four suspected militants in the North Waziristan tribal region on Friday.

 

[Aatishbaz]

Qari Hussein dead in a drone strike?????Wish its true!!!

 

[TruthSeeker]

At least four militants killed in US drone strike: officials

Saturday, 16 Oct, 2010

ISLAMABAD: At least four militants were killed in a US drone attack in Pakistan’s northwestern tribal area Friday, hours after a similar strike in the region killed three insurgents, security officials said.

The latest attack targeted a militant compound in Aziz Khen town in Mir Ali district of North Waziristan a stronghold of Taliban and Al-Qaeda-linked militants, according to the officials.

“A US drone fired four missiles at a compound killing four militants,” one security official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

“The compound was destroyed and militants have cordoned off the area,” he added. There was no immediate report of any high-value target being killed in the attack.

The Mir Ali area is considered a haven for the Pakistani Taliban, the warlord Hafiz Gul Bahadur, and the Haqqani network, an Afghan group affiliated with Al-Qaeda and considered one of the fiercest foes of the US in eastern Afghanistan.

Two other intelligence officials confirmed the latest attack and casuality figures. A further security official said six people were killed in the strike.

DAWN.COM | Pakistan | At least four militants killed in US drone strike: officials

 

[alibaz]

Fresh news are coming from Datta Khel in NW. 4 missiles have been fired through drones and so far 3 dead are reported

 

[GUNNER]

‘US Drone Strikes Violate International Law’

LONDON, Oct 21, 2010 - The US programme of drone strikes targeting Islamist militants in Pakistan, Yemen and other countries violates international law and should be halted, a legal expert warned Thursday.

Mary Ellen O'Connell, a law professor at the University of Notre Dame, told a debate at a leading London think-tank that the pursuit of Al-Qaeda and Taliban extremists should be a law enforcement issue, not a military one.

"The strongest conclusion is that there is no legal right to resort to drone strikes in Pakistan, Yemen, Somalia and elsewhere where the US is not involved in armed conflict," she told the respected Chatham House centre.

She was particularly critical of strikes by the US Central Intelligence Agency in the northwestern tribal zone of Pakistan which borders Afghanistan, a haven for militants who use it as a base to attack NATO and Pakistani forces.

"The use of drones is causing really serious anger in Pakistan. I really seriously question the necessity for what we are doing," she said.

O'Connell said they could not be justified because there was no open consent from Pakistan, and the strikes could not be taken as an act of war because they did not happen on Afghan soil, where US troops operate.

But Michael Schmitt, an international law professor at Britain's Durham University who spent 20 years in the US air force, told the debate that the strikes were "completely within the law of self defence".

He argued that the drone strikes were a valid measure against a new "transnational" form of combatant, and that they could also be justified if the country where they are based either refused or was unable to act against militants.

The United States has dramatically increased the frequency of drone strikes in Pakistan in 2010, particularly in recent months in response to intelligence claims of plots to launch commando attacks on European cities.

US officials say drone strikes are highly effective in the war against Al-Qaeda and its Islamist allies, but their legality remains shadowy and Washington has never publicly acknowledged the existence of the programme.

Pakistan has condemned the strikes as a breach of national sovereignty.

 

[TruthSeeker]

Mary Ellen O'Connell, a law professor at the University of Notre Dame, told a debate at a leading London think-tank that the pursuit of Al-Qaeda and Taliban extremists should be a law enforcement issue, not a military one.

I totally disagree. Al-Qaeda declared war on us, first, not the other way around. Al Qaeda subsequently mounted attacks against us in Yemen, Nairobi, Dar es Salaam, New York and Washington, DC before we began our "War on Terror" against them. You cannot treat such events as law enforcement matters unless we have an effective world wide criminal code and law enforcement mechanism, which does not exist. The drones are providing what little justice can be provided, albeit, imperfectly.

 

[GUNNER]

Qari Hussein dead in a drone strike?????Wish its true!!!

It is true. He was killed in a drone strike on 10th i believe.

 

[Chogy]

I understand the great sensitivity of this issue. Likewise, like any rational human, I mourn the loss of any innocent human.

The majority of Pakistanis want control over the drone strikes. Let's assume for the moment that ALL drone operations are fully handed over to the Pakistani military, with suitable training in the systems.

The problem as I see it is that innocents will continue to be injured and killed. It is the very nature of armed combat. It is impossible to avoid.

Would the fact that the Pakistan military is operating the drones make civilian death somehow more palatable? Or would the anger shift... "They (Pakistan military) are killing us!"

The missiles used are as small as can be made and ensure destruction of a vehicle or small dwelling. The U.S. could be lofting 2,000 pound JDAMS instead, increasing collateral damage, which is out of the question.

What's the answer? I don't know. I do have the feeling that the drone strikes are terrorizing the bad-guy leadership. Can you imagine wondering what it would be like to expose yourself at all, knowing that a supersonic missile could be on its way at any moment?

 

[GUNNER]

Three Militants Killed in Drone Strike

MIRANSHAH, Pakistan, Oct 27, 2010 (AFP) - A US drone strike targeted members of the Haqqani network in Pakistan's northwestern tribal district on Wednesday, killing at least three militants and destroying a car, security officials said.

The Taliban and Al-Qaeda-linked faction is one of the toughest opponents of US troops in Afghanistan and was suspected of playing a role in a December 30 suicide attack on a CIA base in eastern Afghanistan that killed seven agents.

Wednesday's strike targeted militants travelling in a car in the Degan area of Datta Khel district in North Waziristan, 35 kilometres (22 miles) west of the region's main town of Miranshah.

"Three militants were killed," said a senior Pakistani security official on condition of anonymity.

"They were from the Haqqani network," the official added.

The militants were travelling in the car when the vehicle was destroyed by two missiles, the official added.