Pakistan: Reported US strikes 2011

Location: Karez, South Waziristan
References: PakTribune, Associated Press, Express Tribune, AFP, BBC News, Dawn, The News

Ob221 – June 15 2011
♦ 5-6 total killed
♦ 5-6 civilians reported killed
The civilian casualty figures included in this summary are based on the following reports: Unnamed tribesmen (Dawn, The News), villagers refer to dead as ‘people’ not ‘militants’ (PakTribune), complaint to UN Human Rights Council (Reprieve), interviews with named and anonymised locals (Stanford/NYU), field researchers (Bureau).

A car was destroyed and up to six people were reported killed on the Mir Ali-Miranshah road. The Bureau’s researchers in Waziristan reported:

Civilians belonging to the Zangbar family of the Toorikhel Wazir tribe were killed. Those killed included Shahzada [or Sherzada], who was a student and was the grandson of a tribal elder Malik Shahzada, the 50-year-old head of the Toorikhel Wazir tribe. Malik Shahzada has shifted to Peshawar with his family due to fear of the local Taliban. How could he or his slain grandson be Taliban when the family had to leave their ancestral village and shift to Peshawar to avoid harm at the hand of the Taliban?

Also killed were Akram Shah, a government employee driving the car; Atiq ur Rehman, nicknamed Tariq, a local pharmacist; Irshad Khan, who worked for Mr Rehman; and Amar Khan, a student at Miranshah college.

For the Living Under Drones study, researchers at Stanford/NYU interviewed several who knew the dead men to build up a more detailed picture of them and the incident. Akram Shah was a ‘father of three in his mid-thirties’, who worked for the Pakistani Water and Power Development Authority as a driver. Shahzada, his cousin, is described as ‘a student in his late teens or early twenties’; both men lived in a family compound in Spulga, a village 15km outside Miram Shah. Atiq ur Rehman is described as a young pharmacist who ran the Razmak Medical shop in Miranshah bazaar, and the father of four children aged under four. Irshad Khan was a teenage student who worked in the pharmacy, while Amar Khan – or Umar Khan – is described as owning a car parts shop.

The five men left Miranshah in Akram’s car that evening, heading towards Spulga, according to accounts given to Stanford/NYU researchers. On the way, it was hit by a missile – although some reports suggest up to six missiles were fired at the ‘speedy car’. Interviewee Abdul Qayyum Khan told researchers Amar Khan had escaped the vehicle and been hit by a separate missile. A witness described how he heard the attack from 2km away; another described the car as resembling ‘a sandwich bent in half’. Locals told PakTribune up to five drones were seen overhead, and remained in the area for over an hour, preventing rescue attempts.

The civilian deaths led to an outpouring of local anger, with residents using the coffins of the dead to block roads in protest. Some reports indicated that one further unidentified person may have been killed in the strike (Dawn).

Location: Isha Check Point, North Waziristan
References: PakTribune, Dawn, The News, CNN, Boston.com, AFP, BBC News, Dawn, SATP, Reprieve, Stanford/NYU Living Under Drones, Bureau (civilian investigation), Bureau (civilian data), Bureau

Ob222 – June 20 2011
♦ 5-7 total killed
♦ 2-7 civilians reported killed
♦ 0-3 injured
The civilian casualty figures included in this summary are based on the following reports: Named local official refers to the dead as ‘people’ and ‘tribesmen’ rather than ‘militants’ (Associated Press), unnamed locals (Express Tribune), field researchers (Bureau)

Up to seven people were reported killed in a double-tap attack on rescuers in the first of a two strikes in Kurram Agency, a rare target. Five initially died when a car was destroyed. As tribesmen attempted aid, drones killed a further two people, local official Noor Alam told Associated Press. ‘As tribesmen rushed to the scene, the vehicle was struck again, killing two more people, he said.’ However the Bureau’s own researchers in Waziristan, while reporting that all of those died were civilians, said that no rescuers were killed. The Express Tribune also reported:

Those killed were said to be affiliated with the Haqqani network, however, local sources said the deceased were local tribesmen.

According to Dawn and others the targets were in a stronghold of Fazal Saeed Utezai, a powerful local militant commander.

Location: Khardand, Kurram Agency
References: Dawn, Voice of America, Associated Press, The Nation (Pakistan), The Hindu, Express Tribune, Al Jazeera English, Xinhua, Daily Times, AFP, CNN, BBC News, Reuters, Long War Journal, Bureau (civilian investigation), Bureau (civilian data), Bureau (rescuers investigation), Bureau (rescuers data), Bureau

Ob223 – June 20 2011
♦ 2-5 total killed
In the second strike of the day in Kurram, a house was struck and up to five alleged militants, said to be mainly Afghanis, were killed. The local political administration gathered data on the drone strikes in a secret document that the Bureau published in January 2014. It said two people were killed in this strike – both non-locals.

Location: Zeraki, Kurram Agency
References: Boston Globe (Associated Press), The Nation (Pakistan), Dawn, The Hindu, Express Tribune, Al Jazeera English, Xinhua, Daily Times, AFP, CNN, BBC News, Reuters, Long War Journal, Bureau

Ob223c – June 20 2011
♦ 5 total killed
A possible third attack may have taken place in Kurram on a ‘suspect compound’ killing five alleged militants. However reporting remains confused and this strike is not presently included in our data.

Location: Qama Mela, Kurram Agency
References: Voice of America, Boston.com, The Nation (Pakistan), Voice of America, Daily Times, Long War Journal, AFP, CNN, BBC News, Reuters, Yahoo, Al Jazeera English, Xinhua, The Hindu

Ob224 – June 27 2011
♦ 6-12 total killed
Up to a dozen people were reported killed in an attack on one or two trucks. Three ‘foreigners’ and five local Taliban fighters were reported among the dead. Sources reported that Shakirullah Shakir, a spokesman for the TTP‘s Fidayeen e Islami or suicide bomb squad, was among those killed. However he had been reported killed three weeks before, shot by unknown attackers. The shooting reportedly coincided with discord within the TTP. Hakimullah Mehsud had been in charge of the group for a year but schisms were said to be emerging. Shakir was a ‘key figure’ in the TTP and a tribal source told Express Tribune his shooting was ‘like a slap on the face for [Mehsud]. Nobody could have imagined such things here sometime back.’

Location: Shawal NWA, North Waziristan
References: Al Jazeera English, PakObserver, The News, Express Tribune, BBC News, Xinhua, Xinhua, Dawn, Asia Pulse, Express Tribune

Ob225 – June 27 2011
♦ 12-21 total killed
♦ 0-20 civilians killed
♦ At least 2 injured
The civilian casualty figures included in this summary are based on the following reports: Named local (Pajhwok), anonymous Pakistani intelligence official does not specify identity of those killed (Al Jazeera), reporting refers to ‘people’ rather than ‘militants’ (BBC News, Express Tribune, Xinhua)

An alleged militant training camp or house was ‘completely destroyed’ and up to 21 people were killed, with at least two people injured. Although the site was linked by one source to militant commander Adam Khan, and most referred to alleged militants killed, local man Hajji Malak Dildar later told Pajhwok that 20 civilians had been killed. In contrast The News reported that those killed were linked to the Pakistan Taliban:

Tribal sources said the drone fired four missiles, pounding a house where a group of militants reportedly affiliated with the Hakimullah Mahsud-led TTP were residing. They said 14 militants died on the spot and seven others suffered injuries. There was no immediate information about the identity of the victims.

Location: Mantoi, South Waziristan
References: Dawn, AFP, PakObserver, The News, The News, Dawn, Al Jazeera English, Express Tribune, BBC News, Xinhua, Xinhua, Pajhwok, Bureau (investigation), Bureau (data), Bureau

Ob226 – July 5 2011
♦ 4-6 total killed
♦ 0-3 civilians killed, 2 children and 1 woman
♦ 5 injured
The civilian casualty figures included in this summary are based on the following reports: an internal Pakistani record of CIA drone strikes (Bureau)

An attack on a guesthouse killed up to six alleged militants and injured five. Suspected Australian militant and convert Saif Ullah was later named among the dead, along with Zahirullah. The Bureau’s researchers in Waziristan reported: ‘The missile fired by the drone hit a hujra, or male guesthouse. Saifullah, the Australian national, happened to be a guest of Zahirullah, who owned a general store in Mir Ali bazaar, and both were killed.’ Our researchers report that there is debate over Zahirullah’s militant links:

There was no doubt about Saifullah’s background. He was a white Australian convert, who had grown a beard and used to rotate between North Waziristan and Khost. Sources said he used to fight against the US-led forces in Khost province in Afghanistan and then return to North Waziristan for rest. Saifullah, in his late 30s, had come to North Waziristan four years ago and had lived in Miramshah and other places. In North Waziristan, he was aligned with the Pakistani Taliban militant group headed by Hafiz Gul Bahadur, who signed a peace agreement with the Pakistan government twice in recent years. He had reportedly come from Khost two days before he was killed.

The Australian government continues to deny that one of its citizens was killed.

Location: Hurmuz, North Waziristan
References: AFP, PTI, Xinhua, PakObserver, Long War Journal, Xinhua, CNN, Times of India, The Bureau, The Bureau, Reuters, KUNA, Bureau

Ob227 – July 11 2011
♦ 5-12 total killed
♦ Possible civilian deaths
♦ At least 2 injured
The civilian casualty figures included in this summary are based on the following reports: Anonymous government officials and unnamed reporter indicate uncertainty over identity of the dead (The News).

An evening attack on a van (and also possibly a house) killed up to a dozen people. According to one source five people were reportedly in the van, their identities unknown. Other media reported that the house had been the target.

Several media organisations reported that 10 people were killed in the drone attack while reports from the area said only the five people seated in the vehicle were killed in the strike. Government officials confirmed the incident but expressed ignorance about the identity of the slain persons.

AFP reported that all of those killed were ‘local militants.’

Location: Gurwak, North Waziristan
References: The News, The News, AFP, Dawn, Associated Press (via Washington Post), AFP (via Dawn), GeoTV, MSNBC (AP), Geo News, Reuters, BBC News, Bureau

Ob228 – July 12 2011
♦ 12-25 total killed
A second strike in Gurwak (sometimes confused with Ob228) killed between 12 and 25 alleged militants in a housing compound that was said to have been ‘owned by Rahim Noor, having links with militant groups.’

Location: Datta Khel, North Waziristan
References: The News, The News, AFP, Dawn, Washington Times, Dawn, GeoTV, MSNBC (AP), Geo News, Reuters, BBC News, Asian Tribune

Ob229 – July 12 2011
♦ 5-13 total killed
♦ 3-5 injured
An attack on a house and/ or car killed up to thirteen alleged militants, including ‘foreigners’, and injured five. Five students ‘with militant links’ were killed in either this or Ob230, three named as Hafiz Bilal, Waheed Ullah and Fayaz. As Pakistan Today reported:

All five youngsters belonged to Southern Lakki Marwat district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. One of them, identified as Hafiz Bilal was a BSc Geology Student in Khan Abdul Wali Khan University Mardan. Sources said Bilal went to the Waziristan region in the summer vacations where he was present in a militant compound when a US drone struck the building, killing him.

The News described a complex mix of people killed, including ‘Punjabi Taliban and tribal fighter… foreign fighters and some Arab nationals.’

Location: Barmal, South Waziristan
References: Digital Journal, Pakistan Today, The News, Pakwatan, STLToday, Geo News Update, BBC News, The News, AFP, Dawn, Pakwatan, Lahore Times, Geo News, Reuters, BBC

Ob230 – July 12 2011
♦ 13-15 total killed
♦ 0-4 civilians reported killed
The civilian casualty figures included in this summary are based on the following reports: Unnamed tribesmen (The News), local TV reports the dead as ‘people’ rather than ‘militants’ (Pakistan Times), field researchers name four civilians (Bureau)

Linked attacks on a house and car killed up to fifteen alleged militants. Reuters reported a Pakistani intelligence official as saying: ‘The missiles were fired as militants sitting in a vehicle were entering into a house used by them as a hideout. The house is on fire.’ Five students described as having ‘militant links’ were killed in either this or Ob229 (above).

The Asian Tribune reported at the time: ‘the first attack was followed by another when people started fleeing the compound.’ As part of its investigation into the CIA’s deliberate targeting of rescuers, the Bureau’s own researchers report that drones returned to attack rescuers on this occasion, killing four unnamed Taliban and four civilians they identified as Shabbir, Kalam, Waqas and Bashir.

Location: Darnashtra, Shawal valley, North Waziristan
References: The News, Pakistan Times, Press TV, The Nation (Pakistan), Asian Tribune, Reuters, Bureau (rescuers investigation), Bureau (rescuers data)

Ob231 – July 12 2011
♦ 8-9 total killed
♦ 1 civilian reported killed
The civilian casualty figures included in this summary are based on the following reports: Anonymous local officials and tribal sources (The News)

An attack on a car killed up to eight alleged militants. The News reported tribal sources at the time as saying that ‘a local villager driving his personal car came under drone attack’.  The Bureau’s own researchers in Waziristan investigated, and reported:

This drone strike was also directed at the New Adda (new public stand) in Dattakhel town. The New Adda has been attacked at least thrice. Eight suspected militants, all Pakistanis from local tribes, were killed in the attack. A civilian named Abdul Jalil, hailing from the Khaddar Khel clan was also killed. He had come home from Dubai, UAE where he was a migrant worker, on leave.

Location: Newey Adda, North Waziristan
References: The News, Pakistan Times, Press TV, The Nation, Asian Tribune, Reuters, Bureau

Ob232 – July 20 2011
♦ 4 total killed
♦ At least 2 injured
An attack on a house killed four people – described by one source as ‘suspected militants’. Several others were wounded, and were reported at the time as being in a ‘critical condition.’

Location: Khushali, North Waziristan
References: Express Tribune, Press TV, MSN

Ob233 – August 1 2011
♦ 3-6 total killed
♦ 0-6 civilians reported killed
♦ 7 injured
The civilian casualty figures included in this summary are based on the following reports: Named local (Pajhwok), anonymous sources refer to dead as ‘people’ (The News)

A strike on a moving car killed up to six people, allegedly militants, and injured seven. One report described the victims as Punjabi militants allied with Maulvi Nazir. A number of houses also appear to have been damaged in the attack, with one resident claiming that all of those killed were civilians.

Five local Taliban were killed in the missile strike in the Barmal area, near the Afghanistan border, a Wana-based political administration official, Shoaib Wazir, told Pajhwok Afghan News. Two missiles were fired at the vehicle that was completely destroyed and five of its occupants killed, the official said. Haji Abdul Wahab Dawar, an elder from Barmal, said two houses were damaged by the missile assault that happened around noon. He feared the death toll could go up. Another resident, Riaz Gul, alleged the dead were civilians, with no links to the Taliban. The drones continued to fly over the area for quite some time after the strike, he said.

Location: Nargassai, South Waziristan
References: AFP, AFP/Express Tribune, Reuters/Dawn, The News, Dawn, CNN, Pajhwok, Bureau

Ob234 – August 2 2011
♦ 3-4 total killed
Up to four alleged militants and/ or local tribesmen were killed in a strike on a moving car . The News reported: ‘Tribal sources said the CIA-operated spy planes disappeared for some time in the past few weeks due to unknown reasons, but suddenly reappeared on Tuesday and launched the attack.’  There was some speculation that this might be linked to the recent resignation of the CIA’s station chief in Islamabad.

Location: Qutab Khel, North Waziristan
References: Voice of America, The News, AP,  AFP, Bureau

Ob235 – August 10 2011
♦ 8-25 total killed
♦ 3-8 injured
A pre-dawn strike on an alleged housing compound of the Haqqani Network killed up to 23 people. A vehicle was also destroyed in the attack. AFP reported: ‘The vehicle was hit minutes after it reached the house. It looks like the drone was chasing it. One missile hit the vehicle and another hit the house. Four militants sitting in the vehicle were also killed.’ Al Jazeera reported that ‘Uzbeks and Arabs’ may be among the dead. Six months later Associated Press carried out detailed field research on this strike. According to their report:

Villagers said no civilians died. A drone fired missiles at a large brick compound, killing at least 20 Afghan and Pakistani Taliban fighters, said Sajjad Ali, a local driver. The compound hit was known as a rest house for militants run by the Haqqani network, an Afghan group focused on fighting foreign troops in Afghanistan, he said. The charred bodies were hastily buried in a graveyard more than a mile (2 kilometers) away, said Ali, who spoke to several people who attended the burial. Those who attended were not allowed to see the victims’ faces, he said. A second man who spoke to people who attended the burial confirmed Ali’s account. He requested anonymity.

Location: Village near Miran Shah, North Waziristan
References: Dawn, AFP, The Guardian, Al Jazeera, Deccan Herald, Associated Press, Bureau

Ob236 – August 16 2011
♦ 2-7 total killed
♦ 3-4 civilians reported killed, including one child
♦ 2 injured
The civilian casualty figures included in this summary are based on the following reports: Anonymous intelligence official (Deutsche Presse-Agentur), unnamed sources (The Nation)

At least four people were initially reported killed and two people wounded, according to a senior Pakistan security official quoted by agencies.  A vehicle was hit, which may have been the intended target. Also severely damaged was a nearby house. Both were in the vicinity of a girls’ school near the bazaar. There was speculation that the target was members of the Haqqani Network, with AP reporting two possible ‘foreigners’ killed. This was later disputed, with reports that all of those killed were locals. The News reported that all of those killed were ‘local tribal militants’:

Two rooms and the boundary walls of the targeted house as well as nearby houses remained intact as the missile struck the courtyard. The occupants of the house were reportedly sitting in the courtyard preparing to have Sehri, the nighttime meal before fasting, when the attack took place.’

The Nation and Deutsche Presse-Agentur subsequently reported a local intelligence official as saying that two or three women and a child were among the dead. However in January 2014 the Bureau published an internal Pakistani record of CIA drone strikes. It listed only two people killed in this attack.

Location: Miran Shah, North Waziristan
References: Dawn, Wall Street Journal, AFP, AP, BBC, Voice of America, Al Jazeera, The News, The Nation, Daily Times, Deutsche Presse-Agentur, Bureau

Ob237 – August 19 2011
♦ 3-4 total killed
♦  2 injured
Up to four people were killed in a strike on a house in the Shin Warsak area of South Waziristan. There were initial reports that the house belonged to a local tribal elder, reportedly Ahmad Noor, or Muhamad Nauroz, and that those killed were ‘local militants’ or ‘local tribesmen’ with possibly two ‘foreigners’ among them. An internal Pakistan government record of drone strikes, published by the Bureau in January 2014, listed three ‘non-locals’ killed in the attack. IRNA reported that the men were part of Maulvi Nazir’s militant group. Villagers were reported to be carrying out rescue work. The attack raised to over 2,300 the minimum people reported killed in the CIA programme, according to the Bureau’s data.

Location: Shin Warsak, South Waziristan
References: Press TV, Dawn, Hindustan Times, Deutsche Presse-Agentur, The Nation, AFP, CNN, The Nation, The News, IRNA, Bureau

Ob238 – August 22 2011
♦ 3-7 total killed
♦ 0-4 civilians reported killed
♦ 3 injured
The civilian casualty figures included in this summary are based on the following reports: Unnamed security official says guest house hit (AFP/Dawn), anonymous official sources report civilian casualties (Dawn)

A vehicle was targeted in the Norak area of North Waziristan, killing alleged militants. AFP cited a local security official as saying that the house of a local tribal elder was also hit. Dawn later reported that the house belonged to tribesman Gul Sawab, and that ‘three militants and four tribesmen from the same family’ died in the attack. On August 27 a US official reported that Al Qaeda’s new second in command, Atiyah abd al-Rahman, died in a Pakistan drone strike ‘earlier that week’. Al-Rahman had reportedly been in constant communication with Osama bin Laden before his death in May 2011. A US official told the New York Times:

Atiyah was at the top of Al Qaeda’s trusted core. His combination of background, experience and abilities are unique in Al Qaeda — without question, they will not be easily replaced.

Media speculation mostly centred on the Norak strike. But The News reported that two separate strikes took place that day, and that al-Rahman and his family died elsewhere. Reuters reported that Pakistani officials could neither confirm al-Rahman’s death, nor his status as al-Qaeda number two. Al Rahman had already been reported dead, in On the first anniversary of his death Al Qaeda reportedly released a biography of the slain leader.

Location: Norak, North Waziristan
References: Express Tribune, Dawn, The Nation, AFP, CNN, Reuters, Dawn, Daily Times, Yahoo News, New York Times, Daily Mail, The News, Reuters, Deutsche Welle, Wall Street Journal, Associated Press, Washington Post, The Guardian, Los Angeles Times, Daily Beast, Wired, Long War Journal, The News, Bureau

Ob238c – August 22 2011
♦ 0-6 total killed
♦ 0-3 civilians reported killed, including 2 children
The civilian casualty figures included in this summary are based on the following reports: Unnamed tribal sources (The News)

The News was the single source for reports of a second strike on a house on August 22 that killed a family of Arabs, ‘three men, two children and a lady. Local villagers said an Arab family was residing in the house and all those died in the missile attack were Arab nationals.’ The newspaper speculated that this strike killed Atiyah abd al-Rahman (see Ob239).

Location: Khaisoori, North Waziristan
References: The News

Ob238ci – September 4 2011
♦ 7 total killed
Urdu TV station Ajj reports that an evening strike killed up to seven alleged militants in an unspecified location in North Waziristan, a day after the end of the four-day Eid holiday. No further details are known from this single source.

Location: North Waziristan
References: Xinhua

Ob239 – September 11 2011
♦ 1-5 total killed
♦ 2 injured

A strike on the tenth anniversary of 9-11 killed up to five alleged militants in Hisokhel, North Waziristan. A localPakistani official told news agency AFP that a vehicle was destroyed, and that a house was also severely damaged in the attack. GeoTV reported that four drones were involved in the strike, and that their presence afterwards ‘impeded rescue work’. The BBC named one of the dead as a local Haqqani Network commander Hafeezullah who died along with a ‘foreigner’. Four days later a US official reported the death of 33-year old Saudi Abu Hafs al-Shahri, said to be al Qaeda’s operational chief in Pakistan. The Washington Post cited a Pakistan intelligence official based in North Waziristan who ‘suspected, but could not confirm, that Shahri was killed in a drone strike on Sept. 11.’ The New York Times assertively reported that the strike killed al-Shahri. The Long War Journal questioned whether al-Shahri held the role of operations chief.

CNN claimed some weeks later that a German, Mohammad al-Faateh, also died in the strike. ‘Faateh, a suspected al Qaeda commander who had come to Afghanistan in 2006 and made his way to Pakistan in December 2009 … had spent time in Saudi Arabia, was a commander with the militant organization Harkat-ul-Jihad- al- Islami (HuJI),’ according to CNN’s Pakistani intelligence sources. Die Welt claimed he was a 27-year old Berliner, also known as Fatih T.

An internal Pakistani government document listed only one ‘non-local’ killed in this attack, despite media consistently reporting four or five people killed. The document was a secret record of CIA drone strikes in Pakistan and was published by the Bureau in January 2014.

Location: Khaso Khel, North Waziristan
References: BBC, AFP, The News, Express Tribune, Nine News, UPI, Antiwar.com, Voice of America, CNN, GeoTV, Washington Post, Radio Free Europe, New York Times, Reuters, Voice of America, BBC, AFP, CNN, Long War Journal, The Guardian, AP, CNN, Die Welt, The News, Bureau

Ob240 – September 23 2011
♦ 3-8 total killed
♦ 3-4 injured
A 12-day hiatus ended with a strike on a house and vehicle east of Miranshah, killing up to eight alleged militants including four ‘foreigners’ of ‘Central Asian origin’, according to a local security figure. The house reportedly belonged to local tribal leader Jamal Wazir. As many as four alleged militants were also wounded. The attack came hours after the US Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Admiral Mike Mullen, again accused Pakistan’s ISI of colluding with the Haqqani Network, based in the area and a likely target of the attack. One news agency quoted a local intelligence official:

The locals have pulled out the charred bodies of all four people in the vehicle, while the debris of the demolished house is being combed to find dead or injured, if there are any.

Location: Khushali, North Waziristan
References: AFP, CNN, The News, Deutsche Presse-Agentur, BNO News, Express Tribune, Xinhua, Dawn, Bureau

Ob241 – September 27 2011
♦ 0-4 total killed
♦ 0-2 injured
Up to four people were initially reported killed in a strike on a compound near Wana, South Waziristan. But news agency AFP later quoted a local security official as saying that those in the compound escaped injury: ‘A US drone fired two missiles targeting a vehicle parked in a compound but the militants fled before they could be hit.’ Militant sub-commander Haleem Ullah, reportedly killed three days later, was said to have been among those who escaped. See Ob242.

Location: Azam Warsak, South Waziristan
References: Express Tribune, Xinhua, Pakistan Today, AP, CNN, AFP, Dawn, Bureau

Ob242 – September 30 2011
♦ 3-4 total killed
♦ 1-5 injured 
Drones again struck South Waziristan – on the same day that Anwar al-Awlaki was killed in Yemen – resulting in the reported deaths of at least three alleged militants, according to a senior security official. The men, traveling in a vehicle, were reportedly part of Maulvi Nazir’s network, a group the US sees as hostile but which has signed local peace agreements with Pakistan. According to Dawn:

One Pakistani official said a deputy to Nazir, named Haleem Ullah, [aka Halimullah, Aleemullah] was among the dead. The official said he was among those militants who had escaped survived a drone strike in South Waziristan three days ago by escaping.

The Hindustan Times reported that Haleem Ullah ‘belonged to the Tujikhel sub-tribe of the Ahmadzai Wazirs and led a group of 300 armed fighters‘ and that he was in the area to resolve a local tribal dispute. Two other dead militants were named by Dawn as Haji Karam and Kharh. SANA reported that five people were also injured in the attack.

Location: Baghar Cheena, South Waziristan
References: Pakistan Today, AFP, AP, Voice of America, Dawn, The Nation, CNN, Long War Journal, Express Tribune, SANA, Dawn, Pakistan Observer, The Nation, Hindustan Times, The News, The News, The News, Bureau

Ob243 – October 13 2011
♦ 1-6 total killed
♦ 4 injured
After a two week pause CIA strikes resumed in Pakistan, with an attack on Danda Darpakhel, North Waziristan. The village – site of frequent previous strikes – has strong links with the Haqqani Network, a group involved in attacks on US, NATO and Afghan forces in Afghanistan.  Up to six militants were reported killed, including Jalil Haqqani, or Janbaz Zadran. Described as being in charge of communications for the Network. CNN cited Pakistani intelligence officials as saying

Jalil Haqqani, 32, is an Afghan national and operated between Pakistan and Afghanistan.’

Unusually Haqqani was reported killed as he walked down a street. The Washington Post later raised doubts about his status, with suggestions that the man was not directly related to leaders of the Haqqani Network, and was only a street guard. The attack followed recent comments on September 22 by US Admiral Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, that the Haqqani Network was a ‘veritable arm’ of Pakistan’s ISI intelligence service, further straining relations between the two nominal allies. Marc Grossman, the US special envoy to Afghanistan and Pakistan, arrived in Islamabad for talks on improving those relations on the day of the attack. Maulana Iftiqar was later identified as killed in the strike, described as the head of a religious school in Miranshah. More than 2,000 people attended his funeral.

In January 2014 the Bureau published an internal record of drone strikes kept by the local political authority form information provided by a network of sources in the tribal region. It said ‘one Afghani was killed as reported’ in this attack.

The Washington Post stated that the attack – and subsequent strikes aimed at the Haqqani Network –  were ordered at a September 29 meeting attended by President Obama:

The decision to strike Miran Shah was made at a National Security Council meeting chaired by President Obama … and was intended to ‘send a signal’ that the United States would no longer tolerate a safe haven for the most lethal enemy of U.S. forces in Afghanistan, or Pakistan’s backing for it, said one of several U.S. officials who spoke about internal deliberations on the condition of anonymity. The senior Haqqani figure, Janbaz Zadran, was selected along with other targets to ‘demonstrate how seriously we take the Miran Shah’ threat.

A later secret cable sent by US ambassador to Pakistan Ryan Crocker and leaked to the Washington Post appeared to indicate that there was no clear follow-up.

Location: Danda Darpakhel, North Waziristan
References: AFP, CNN, Dawn, AP, Kuna, Times (South Africa), Washington Post, Al Jazeera, BBC, Reuters, New York Times, Pakistan Today, The News, Washington Post, Foreign Policy, Washington Post, Washington Post, The News, Bureau

Ob244 – October 13 2011
♦ 3-6 total killed
♦ 3 injured
In the second reported strike of the day, drones attacked ‘a group of fighters’ in a compound in South Waziristan, killing up to six people. A Pakistani intelligence official told CNN that ‘The compound on the border was used by militants to routinely fire missiles at NATO and Afghan National Army forces.’ Another official told AFP the dead were linked to militant commander Maulvi Nazir, with The News stating that:

Some sources said that all the dead were militants; four had links with the Mullah Nazeer-led group while two were from Afghanistan. After the incident, the local tribal elders held a meeting to condemn the attack.

The local political authority in Pakistan’s tribal region kept a secret record of CIA drone strikes and casualties. The Bureau published this document in January 2014. It listed six killed in this attack, saying ‘two Arabs and two Afghan Nationals were killed’ along with two locals.

Location: Barmal, South Waziristan
References: Al Jazeera, CNN, Reuters, AFP, New York Times, Pakistan Today, The News, Bureau

Ob245 – October 14 2011
♦ 3-6 total killed
The CIA’s drones again returned to the Danda Darpakhel area, with a strike on a vehicle initially reported to have killed three Egyptian alleged militants and possibly one other. Local villagers told The News that ‘three men standing and talking to each other near the car were the targets of the missile attack. All three were killed.‘ The Egyptian Islamic Group later reported the death of Ahmed Omar Abdul Rahman, son of the blind sheikh Omar Abdul Rahman who was convicted of conspiracy in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing.  While some sources claimed Rahman died in Afghanistan, Reuters cited a senior Taliban commander as confirming his death in this strike. Associated Press also reported the death of ‘a 28-year-old man named Abdullah who played a key role in handling the financial affairs of the Haqqani Network… He was known locally as Nadeem.’

In April 2012 Abu Miqdad al Masri, a member of the Quetta Shura, was revealed to have died in the strike, along with his two sons Al Miqdad Rafie Mustafa and Khalid Rafie Mustafa (of indeterminate age). Their deaths were announced by al-Masri’s widow in an al Qaeda martyr statement.

In January 2014 the Bureau published an internal Pakistani document listing most of the CIA drone strikes. It was compiled by the local administration using reports from informants spread through the tribal agency. It said three ‘non-locals’ were reported killed in this attack.

Location: Shehzadkot, Danda Darpa Khel, North Waziristan
References: Express Tribune, Associated Press, Dawn, Radio Free Europe. Huffington Post, Fox News, AFP, The News, The Nation, NBC, Reuters, AP, Washington Post , Long War Journal, Long War Journal, Bureau

Ob246 – October 15 2011
♦ 3-6 total killed
♦ 3-7 injured
According to the Bureau’s data this attack was the 300th CIA drone strike in Pakistan since 2004. The fourth to hit Waziristan in 48 hours, the strike killed up to six alleged militants allied to commander Maulvi Nazir.  Pakistani intelligence officials told Dawn that a compound was attacked near the village of Angor Adda. An internal Pakistani record of drone strikes, published by the Bureau in January 2014, listed four non-locals killed in this attack – ‘reportedly, all militants were Arabs nationality’.

Location: Baghar Cheena, South Waziristan
References: Dawn, AP, AFP, Press TV, The News, CNN, Reuters, Bureau

Ob246c – October 15 2011
♦ 3-7 total killed
♦ 3-6 injured
There were reports of a further strike in South Waziristan on Maulvi Nazir’s forces, which killed up to seven alleged militants. Some sources claimed the attack was not by drones but by ‘NATO helicopters.’ Three of those killed were named as Hazrat Ali, Sher Ali and Amir Hamza – possibly ‘low level Taliban commanders.’

Location: Baghar Chinah, South Waziristan
References: SANA, Dawn, Conflict Monitoring Centre annual report 2011 (pdf), The Nation, Al Jazeera English,

Ob247 – October 26 2011
♦ 13-22 total killed
♦ 6 injured
An attack on the Pakistan Taliban (TTP) which only emerged two days later reportedly killed between 13 and 22 members of the militant organisation. Pakistani security officials told Reuters that ‘there was strong evidence that Taj Gul Mehsud, a senior Taliban commander and close aide to TTP leader Hakimullah Mehsud, was among the victims in the attack.’  A further five of those killed were reportedly locals from Miranshah, where they were buried. Reporting of the strike was reportedly delayed due to the remoteness of the attack’s location.

On December 23 2011 a TTP suicide bomber attacked a Pakistan Frontier Corps post, killing six, in what it said was a revenge attack for the death of Mehsud.

Location: Bobar, South Waziristan
References: Reuters, Long War Journal, Associated Press, Long War Journal, The News, The News

Ob248 – October 27 2011
♦ 4-6 total killed
♦ 3-4 injured
Hazrat Omar, a 27-year old brother of militant commander Maulvi Nazir, was one of up to five Taliban-linked individuals reported killed in a strike on a vehicle in South Waziristan.  Also reported dead were Nazir’s deputy commander Khan Mohammad Wazir aka Sathaj, Miraj Khan Wazir (a cousin of Nazir, according to the New York Times) and Ashfaq Wazir (both named as commanders by some media), and up to two others. The News reported that

Sources close to Maulvi Nazeer said the commanders had gone to Angoor Adda near the Afghan border earlier in the morning along with three-dozen militants to fight against the Nato forces in Paktika province. The militants had forgotten something important in Wana, the headquarters of South Waziristan, and decided to go back to Wana and bring the material in the vehicle. The militants were passing through the mountainous Tor Korai area near Azam Warsak when their pickup truck came under attack of the CIA-operated spy planes.

Although Nazir’s group has signed a formal peace agreement with Pakistani forces, the US considered it a foe because of ongoing militant operations inside Afghanistan. Recent strikes appeared to have been targeting Nazir’s command structures. The News reported that Nazir himself attended the funeral prayers for the commanders, allegedly saying: ‘To me, all of them were like brothers. Their loss is as heartbreaking as the death of my brother Hazrat Omar.’

Location: Azam Warsak, South Waziristan
References: Dawn, Express Tribune, Fox News, AP, AFP, The News, The Nation, CNN, Washington Post, New York Times, Reuters, The News, Dawn, The News, Bureau

Ob249 – October 27 2011
♦ 4-6 total killed
♦ 3 injured
A second strike of the day on either a moving vehicle or a house in North Waziristan killed up to six alleged militants, according to Pakistani security officials. The News reported that ‘Tribal sources and security officials based in Mir Ali said the drone fired four missiles at a house. They said four people were killed and three injured in the attack. A car and motorcycle parked inside the house were also damaged in the attack. The injured were shifted to a local hospital in Mir Ali. There was no way to ascertain the identity of the slain men.’ In January 2014 the Bureau published an internal Pakistani assessment of the strikes. It reported four ‘locals’ were killed in both Ob248 and Ob249.

Location: Hisokhel, North Waziristan
References: Express Tribune, AP, The News, Dawn, The News, Bureau

Ob250 – October 30 2011
♦ 4-6 total killed
♦ 4 civilians reported killed
♦ 2 injured
The civilian casualty figures included in this summary are based on the following reports: Anonymous locals (The Nation, The News, Dawn), named relative (New York Times), unnamed officials say the dead are ‘people’ rather than ‘militants’ (CNN)

An attack on a vehicle near Datta Khel in North Wazirtistan killed up to six people and injured two, one critically. A nearby house was also reported to have been partially destroyed in the strike, which occurred just before noon. Although initial reports claimed the men were alleged militants, local media soon challenged this. The Nation cited local people as saying the dead were ‘peaceful tribesmen‘ and not militants. And The News reported that four of the dead were miners from a local chromite mine in the area. It identified one of those killed as Saeedur Rahman, a dealer in chromites. The attack was the first since August 22 in which civilians reportedly died.

In March 2012 the New York Times identified three further civilians killed in the attack as chromite workers Khastar Gul, Mamrud Khan and Noorzal Khan. Noor Magul, a 64-year old farmer from Waziristan and relative of the three, told the paper:

I have revenge in my heart. I just want to grab a drone by the tail and smash it into the ground.

Location: Khar Qamar, North Waziristan
References: AFP, Al Jazeera, The Nation, Hindustan Times, SANA, The News, Dawn, Pak Tribune, AP, Voice of America, CNN, Reuters, The News, New York Times, Bureau

Ob251 – October 31 2011
♦ 2-4 total killed
♦ 2 civilians reported killed (classed as children)
♦ 3 injured
The civilian casualty figures included in this summary are based on the following reports: Named relative (BBC), unnamed villagers (The News), named campaigner (PTI, The Nation) .

An attack on a vehicle and house near the town of Mir Ali, North Waziristan killed up to four alleged militants, according to initial reports. Intelligence officials reported that the house collapsed. The following day reports emerged of two teenagers killed in the attack while traveling in a car, named as Tariq Aziz or Tariq Khan, aged 16 and his cousin Waheed, initially reported to be aged 12. According to Kareem Khan, a campaigner against the drone strikes who himself lost a son in a 2010 strike, Tariq had attended an anti-drone rally in Islamabad just days beforehand. Tariq’s uncle told the BBC:

We condemn this very strongly. He was just a normal boy who loved football.’

In December 2011 ABC News ran a major story on the attack, which raised  questions about the strike: ‘A US official acknowledged to ABC News that the car was targeted by the CIA, but said the two people inside it were militants, and that neither occupant was a 12-year-old.’ A video of the boys’ funeral seen by the Bureau shows their photographs on top of coffins, and indicates that Waheed was apparently older than 12 – and was most likely in his mid- to late-teens. ABC News describes the same video:

Pakistanis are seen performing traditional rites of mourning, with two families lined up along two straight lines of chalk drawn on the ground. Two caskets sit on a table with Tariq’s and Waheed’s photos on top of them. At one point, a family member lifts the shroud on one of the bodies to reveal a badly burned torso. The faces of the shrouded bodies are never shown.

Location: Norak, Mir Ali, North Waziristan
References: AP, CNN, Press TV, Dawn, AFP, The News, Pak Tribune, Irna, PTI, The Nation, BBC, Bureau, Bureau, ABC News, Bureau

Ob252 – November 3 2011
♦ 2-3 total killed
♦ 3 reported injured
An attack on an alleged militant housing compound near Miranshah in North Waziristan killed up to three people and injured three others, according to local officials. Dawn reported that the casualties were part of the Haqqani Network.

Location: Miran Shah, North Waziristan
References: Express Tribune, Reuters, Dawn, AP, Voice of America, AFP, Daily Times, Bureau

Ob253 – November 15 2011
♦ 3-7 total killed
♦ 2-4 reported injured
Drones resumed operations after a 12-day pause to attack a house in the bazaar of Miranshah. Up to seven people were killed, who local Pakistani officials claimed were alleged militants, although reports could not agree on which group they hailed from. AP and The News described the men as belonging to the Pakistan Taliban (TTP). Reuters instead reported that some of those killed were Arabs linked to al Qaeda.

An internal Pakistani assessment of CIA drone strikes only counted three locals killed in this attack, despite official sources putting the body count higher when briefing the media. The document, published by the Bureau in January 2014, was a record of strikes compiled by the local administration’s informants and agents in the tribal region.

Location: Miran Shah, North Waziristan
References: AFP, Express Tribune, AP, Xinhua, BBC, Al Jazeera, CNN, Reuters, SANA, Dawn, The News, The News, Frontier Post, Pakistan Observer, The Nation, Bureau

Ob254 – November 16 2011
♦ 4-22 total killed
♦ 6 people reported injured
Two housing compounds reportedly containing ‘local Taliban fighters’ were attacked by as many as five drones at around 2.30 am local time, killing up to 22 people, according to reports. Most of the victims were members of the Pakistan Taliban (TTP), according to reports, and the compounds were run by local commanders Abdul Nasir and Abdul Mukhlis, one or both of whom may have been killed (Xinhua, The News). AFP also reported a local official as saying that some ‘foreigners’ may have died in the attack.

However in January 2014 the Bureau published an internal Pakistani assessment of CIA drone strikes. It listed only four killed in this attack. The data was collected by the local political agents, from information provided them by sources within the tribal agencies. The low total for this strike could be a result of agents providing early casualty assessments and not updating the figures in the record. This is evident in other strikes though the entry of this attack does not make this explicit.

On May 22 2013 the US Attorney General revealed that a US citizen, Jude Kenan Mohammed, was killed in a Pakistan strike. According to the New York Times, that attack took place in South Waziristan on November 16 2011 and killed around 12 insurgents in a signature strike. According to an open US indictment dated September 2009, ‘On or about October 7, 2008, defendant JUDE KENAN MOHAMMAD departed the united States to travel to Pakistan to engage in violent jihad.’ He was also accused of engaging in ‘planning and perpetrating a Federal crime of terrorism against the united States, citizens and residents of the united States, and their property.’ The New York Times also noted that:

While Mr. Mohammad was not directly targeted, he had come under increasing scrutiny by American counterterrorism officials, who said he was involved in recruiting militants for Al Qaeda and the Pakistani Taliban, as well as making videos on YouTube to incite violence against the United States.

Mohammed was from Raleigh, North Carolina where local media first reported rumours of his death in February 2012. Described as ‘a vulnerable youth’, he was reportedly introduced to a violent interpretation of Islam by local man William Boyd. Mohammed was alleged to be part of a nine-man terrorist cell in North Carolina before he left for Pakistan. Seven members of the group, including Boyd and his sons, have been convicted of terrorism offenses. The eighth has been arrested in Kosovo.

Location: Babar Ghar, Sararogha, South Waziristan
References: AFP, Radio Free Europe, Associated Press, Express Tribune, Xinhua, Dawn, News Tribe, BBC, The Nation, Pakistan Today, The Hindu, The News, Frontier Post, US Attorney General letter, New York Times, US indictment of Mohammed, Washington Post, New York Times, WRAL, Los Angeles Times, Associated Press, Bureau

Jude Kenan Mohammed’s home-town broadcaster WRAL first reported suspicions of his death in early 2012.

Ob255 – November 17 2011
♦ 7-9 total killed
♦ 3-5 people reported injured
In the third strike in as many days, CIA drones attacked a compound in North Waziristan, killing at least seven and injuring three, according to local officials. Britain’s Channel 4 news reported Pakistani and Taliban officials as saying that four British citizens died in the attack – two named as Ibrahim Adam and Mohammed Azmir Khan. According to the channel:

The four arrived in Pakistan two years ago and had initially associated with al-Qaeda. Later they developed close contacts with the Afghan insurgent group and started fighting against US-led foreign forces in Afghanistan along with Afghan Taliban. They spent some time in Dattakhel and later came to Miramshah, the headquarters of the north Waziristan tribal region.

However The Independent reported that the men were more likely to have died at some point in the previous three months.

The local political administration collected data on CIA drone attacks in an internal strike record. The Bureau published this assessment in January 2014. It listed this strike as killing seven ‘locals’, saying: ‘Amongst the killed, one Noor Wali Khadar Khel Commander of TTP is also included.’

Location: Shawal NWA, North Waziristan
References: AFP, News Tribe, AP, Voice of America, Long War Journal, The Nation, CNN, Dawn, GeoTV, Channel 4 News, The Independent, The Bureau, The News, US Attorney General letter, New York Times, US indictment of Mohammed, Washington Post, Bureau