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US Drone strikes in Pakistan are illegal under international law.

US drone attack kills four in Pakistan: officials | Pakistan | DAWN.COM

MIRAMSHAH, Pakistan: A US drone strike killed four militants in northwestern Pakistan on Friday, the third attack in 48 hours in the tribal district of Waziristan near the Afghan border, officials said.

The drone fired two missiles into a vehicle as it drove through Darpa Khel village about four kilometres (two miles) west of Miramshah, the main town in the district of North Waziristan, the Pakistani security officials told AFP.

“Four militants were killed in the attack, they were all in the vehicle,” one of the officials told AFP on condition of anonymity because he was not authorised to talk to the media.

The identities of the dead were not immediately clear.

A US official in Washington described a commander in the al Qaeda-linked Haqqani network, killed in one of two drone strikes on Thursday, as “the most senior Haqqani leader in Pakistan to be taken off the battlefield”.
 
US missiles kill six in South Waziristan

DERA ISMAIL KHAN: A US missile strike killed at least six suspected militants in northwestern Pakistan near the Afghan border Saturday, two Pakistani intelligence officials said, in the third such American missile attack in as many days.

The officials said four missiles slammed into a compound near the border town of Angore Adda in the South Waziristan tribal region. The strike was targeting fighters of Maulvi Nazir, a militant commander who is accused of working with the Taliban and al-Qaeda to direct cross-border attacks, the officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Nazir is believed to have an agreement with Pakistani authorities that they will leave him alone so long as his men refrain from carrying out attacks on Pakistani soil.

Since 2008, Washington has regularly used drone-fired missiles to target insurgents and their hideouts in Pakistani tribal regions where local and Afghan factions like the Haqqanis and al-Qaeda men are hiding. US officials do not acknowledge the CIA-led program publicly, and Pakistan protests the strikes, which are unpopular.

Saturday’s strike was the latest in a string of missile attacks targeting the militant-infested border region.

On Friday, US missiles killed four unidentified people in the North Waziristan tribal region. A day earlier, a missile attack in North Waziristan killed Janbaz Zadran. US officials say Zadran was a top commander in the Haqqani network and had helped orchestrate attacks in Kabul and southeastern Afghanistan.

Meanwhile, police said Saturday they had arrested a Russian and two nationals from Azerbaijan in Lakki Marwat, a town located near North Waziristan.

It was not clear how the men reached the region, which is off limits to foreigners, and authorities said they were still investigating to determine whether the men had any links to militant groups.
 
US Predators target 'good Taliban' commander in South Waziristan

By BILL ROGGIO, October 15, 2011

US Predators struck yet again in Pakistan's lawless tribal areas, this time in an area in South Waziristan under control of a Taliban leader favored by the Pakistani military. Today's strike is the fourth inside Pakistan in three days.

The unmanned, CIA-operated Predators, or the more deadly Reapers, fired nine missiles at a compound in the Birmal area in South Waziristan, according to Xinhua. Four Taliban fighters loyal to Mullah Nazir were killed in the strike and seven others were wounded. No senior leaders have been reported killed.

Pakistan's military and intelligence services consider Nazir and his followers "good Taliban" as they do not openly seek the overthrow of the Pakistani state, and signed a peace agreement with him in 2009.

Despite the peace agreement, Nazir and his followers continue to shelter al Qaeda and other Taliban groups that do attack the Pakistani state. He also sends forces into Afghanistan to battle US, NATO, and Afghan forces.

Mullah Nazir has openly supported Taliban emir Mullah Omar and slain al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, and wages jihad in Afghanistan. In an interview with the Asia Times, Nazir rejected claims that he opposed al Qaeda, and affirmed that he considered himself to be a member of the global terror organization.

"Al Qaeda and the Taliban are one and the same," Nazir told The Asia Times earlier this year. "At an operational level we might have different strategies, but at the policy level we are one and the same.... This is wrong that I am anti-al Qaeda. I am part of al Qaeda."

This year the CIA has begun to target Nazir's tribal areas, after focusing nearly exclusively in North Waziristan in 2010. Nineteen of the 21 strikes that have occurred in South Waziristan this year were conducted in areas under Nazir's control (there have been 57 strikes in Pakistan's tribal areas so far in 2011). Last year, only two of the seven strikes took place in areas under Nazir's influence (there were 117 strikes in Pakistan's tribal areas in 2010).

The US killed Haleem Ullah, one of Nazir's commanders, in a strike in the Wana area of South Waziristan on Sept. 30.

Read more: US Predators target 'good Taliban' commander in South Waziristan - The Long War Journal
 
US drone strike in Pakistan kills three Egyptians | Pakistan | DAWN.COM

DERA ISMAIL KHAN: A recent US missile strike in Pakistan’s tribal region killed three Egyptians linked to the Haqqani network, including one who played a key role in handling the militant group’s finances, Pakistani intelligence officials said Sunday.

The three men were killed Friday when a drone fired missiles at a car near Miramshah, the main town in North Waziristan, said the officials, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to talk to the media. A fourth person was also killed but has not been identified.

US intelligence believes the Haqqanis are the top threat to security in Afghanistan.

One of the Egyptians killed Friday was a 28-year-old man named Abdullah who helped handle the Haqqani network’s finances in Pakistan and Afghanistan, said the intelligence officials. He was known locally as Nadeem.

On Thursday, a missile attack close to Miramshah killed Janbaz Zadran, who US officials said was a top commander in the network who helped orchestrate attacks in Kabul and southeastern Afghanistan. They said he was the most senior Haqqani leader in Pakistan to be taken off the battlefield.
 
3 Egyptians killed in recent Predator strike in North Waziristan

By BILL ROGGIO, October 16, 2011

Friday's Predator airstrike in North Waziristan killed three Egyptians closely linked to the Haqqani Network. The son of the "Blind Sheikh," the leader of the Egyptian Islamic Group who is serving a life prison sentence in the US for the 1993 attack on the World Trade Center, may have been one of those killed.

The strike, which took place on Oct. 14 in the village of Danda Darpa Khel just outside Miramshah, the main town in North Waziristan, killed three Egyptians and another militant who has not been identified, Pakistani intelligence officials told The Associated Press.

"One of the Egyptians killed Friday was a 28-year-old man named Abdullah who helped handle the Haqqani network's finances in Pakistan and Afghanistan," The Associated Press reported. "He was known locally as Nadeem."

An Afghan Taliban commander told Reuters that Ahmed Omar Abdul Rahman, the son of Sheikh Omar Abdul Rahman, or the Blind Sheikh, was one of three Egyptians killed in the Friday Predator strike in North Waziristan. Also killed was the Blind Sheikh's grandson and another Egyptian. The names of those two Egyptians were not disclosed.

The Egyptian Islamic Group, an al Qaeda affiliate, confirmed that Rahman was killed on Friday, but claimed he "was killed in an American air bombing from an unmanned plane on the frontlines in Afghanistan," according to a brief statement that was released on the terror group's website. The statement was translated by the SITE Intelligence Group.

If Rahman is confirmed to have been killed in the North Waziristan strike, he will be the second senior terrorist leader killed in the village of Danda Darpa Khel in two days. On Oct. 13, Jan Baz Zadran, the Haqqani Network's third in command, was killed in a strike in the village.

Read more: 3 Egyptians killed in recent Predator strike in North Waziristan - The Long War Journal
 
^^^ Maybe TruthSeeker can tell me ; I thought that SW was cleared of the Taliban recently ; Yet HVTs flit in and out like its happy hour at the cat house. What is really going on in there ? Or was the PA surge a mere hogwash meant for public consumption ?
 
As Panetta says, "the only game in town" :smokin: !!! The coming days will see HVTs being picked off like ripe chicken. Good going by the warriors in the West.
 
Second US drone strike kills four in North Waziristan | Provinces | DAWN.COM

MIRANSHAH: A second US drone strike on Thursday killed at least four militants in Pakistan’s troubled tribal area along the Afghan border, security officials said.

The unmanned aircraft fired four missiles, hitting a house in Hisokhel village, some 30 kilometres (18 miles) east of Miranshah, the main town of the North Waziristan tribal district, security officials told AFP.

The strike came hours after another unmanned aircraft attack killed four militants including the brother of a Pakistani Taliban commander in Azam Warsak, 20 kilometres west of Wana, the main town of the neighbouring South Waziristan tribal district.

“A US drone fired four missiles. At least four militants were killed,” a security official said of the second attack.

The identities of the militants killed in the second attack were yet not immediately known, he said. Another security official official confirmed the attack and casualties.
 
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