U.S. Drone Attack In Pakistan Reportedly Kills 15 Suspected Militants

By Saud Mehsud

DERA ISMAIL KHAN, Pakistan, March 13 (Reuters) - U.S. drone aircraft struck twice in Pakistan's unruly tribal regions along the border with Afghanistan on Tuesday, killing 15 suspected militants, including two senior militant commanders, security and intelligence officials said.

In the first strike, a drone fired missiles at a vehicle in the Birmal area of the South Waziristan tribal region, killing eight.

Among the dead were Shams Ullah and Amir Hamza, senior commanders of a pro-government militant faction led by Maulvi Nazir, one of the most influential militant leaders in the region.

Seven suspected militants were killed in the second attack later in the day, when a drone fired missiles at a vehicle in the Sara Khawra area, which straddles the border between North Waziristan and South Waziristan.

Several militant groups, including the Afghan Taliban and al Qaeda, operate in Pakistan's semi-autonomous border regions, taking advantage of a porous border with Afghanistan to conduct cross-border attacks or plot violence elsewhere.

The usually unacknowledged Central Intelligence Agency's drone programme, an important element of the U.S. counter-terrorism strategy in the region, appeared to have been halted after a NATO cross-border air attack killed 24 Pakistani soldiers last November, sparking fury in Pakistan.

The campaign, using remotely-piloted armed aircraft, resumed on Jan. 10.

The use of drones is opposed by most Pakistani politicians and the public, who consider drone strikes violations of sovereignty with unacceptable civilian casualties.

Despite public opposition, Pakistan has quietly supported the programme, which U.S. President Barack Obama ramped up after taking office in 2009.


(Additional reporting by Hafiz Wazir in WANA, Jibran Ahmad in PESHAWAR, Mustansar Baloch in DERA ISMAIL KHAN, Haji Mujtaba in MIRANSHAH, and Ali Afzaal in PARACHINAR; Writing by Mahawish Rezvi; Editing by Chris Allbritton and Daniel Magnowski)

Comments

[CapSen]

08:06 AM on 03/15/2012

This kind of warfare makes young kids feel it's a video game. Reality and fiction get blurred. They're out to hunt. The more killing the better. Ignore women and children. All males are enemy combatants.

http://www.siasat.pk/forum/showthread.php?62258-How-US-Drones-Kill-Afghan-Civilians

(courtesy muck-raker)

[CapSen]

07:54 AM on 03/15/2012

I'm disgusted by all these comments who think it's OK to kill 10 people if there is a 'suspected' militant among them. I'm disgusted by the ease with which it is taken for granted 'suspected' means guilty. As if the army would know.

This smacks of racism.

And then, the article states these were PRO-GOV'T militants. That is, allies of the US.

Bizarre.

[freddyb]

12:59 PM on 03/14/2012

Great. At this rate another 15 million drones and we'll clean up the area.

[wizeanne]

12:45 PM on 03/14/2012

Militants? does that mean terrorist?....or group of rebels? or Taliban? supporting what country...Afghanistan? or Pakistan?....or from both? Sorry...it's just the names change of the goups from one country to the next....we're either fighting a group or supporting a group in several countries and for different causes. Drones used in Yemen...who was that group? How about Libya? What group did the US support when Obama's authorized his JSOC ops unit into Libya? Been going on for so long...gets confusing which "group" is the good guys or the bad guys.

[abigtuna]

12:18 PM on 03/14/2012

Well at least they were suspected. A comfort to know our government is held to such a high standard. Suspicion equals conviction.

[omobob]

11:58 AM on 03/14/2012

> The usually unacknowledged Central Intelligence Agency's drone programme appeared to have been halted after a NATO cross-border air attack killed 24 Pakistani soldiers last November, sparking fury in Pakistan.

With their penchant for killing innocent civilians as well as suspects, Drones make more enemies than they eliminate. Drones are judge, jury and executioner. If you kill those who are only "suspected" criminals, what pray tell if the punishment for "convicted" criminals.

[muck-raker]

10:40 AM on 03/14/2012

the foreign news I read says that many of the strikes are on info from paid informants on the ground. If their info is bad or because they need a few bucks well!

the story: American High-Tech Weapons Fail to Prevent Tragedy

by David S. Cloud
Nearly three miles above the rugged hills of central Afghanistan, American eyes silently tracked two SUVs and a pickup truck as they snaked down a dirt road in the pre-dawn darkness.
American Predator drone firing a Hellfire missile launched by remote control many thousands of miles away in Nevada. The vehicles, packed with people, were 31/2 miles from a dozen U.S. special operations soldiers, who had been dropped into the area hours earlier to root out insurgents. The convoy was closing in on them.
At 6:15 a.m., just before the sun crested the mountains, the convoy halted.
"We have 18 pax [passengers] dismounted and spreading out at this time," an Air Force pilot said from a cramped control room at Creech Air Force Base in Nevada, 7,000 miles away. He was flying a Predator drone remotely using a joystick, watching its live video transmissions from the Afghan sky and radioing his crew and the unit on the ground.
http://www.siasat.pk/forum/showthread.php?62258-How-US-Drones-Kill-Afghan-Civilians
(You have to high light entire link and put into your browser. )

[mater]

10:01 AM on 03/15/2012

Grim, very grim. If foreign drones flew over any of our states and killed civilians, , similar to what happened on 9/11, what would we do? We kill a few of their people here and then, some more there. Bet we've killed about as many as the 3000 of ours who've died on 9/11. What has become better for it?

[muck-raker]

01:58 PM on 03/15/2012

it just make for real TERRORISTS

[RadicalAmerica]

04:47 AM on 03/14/2012

U.S. Drones - coming to a police department near you real soon.

[RomeoMD25]

03:15 AM on 03/14/2012

The United States has sent some 12,000 soldiers to Libya, in the first phase of deployments to the oil-rich North African nation.
According to Asharq Alawsat, the troops landed in the eastern oil port city of Brega.
Although the deployment is said to be aimed at generating stability and security in the region, the troops are expected to take control of the country's key oil fields and strategic ports.
Brega, the site of an important oil refinery, serves as a major export hub for Libyan oil. The town is also one of the five oil terminals in the eastern half of the country.

http://www.presstv.ir/detail/222317.html

[carl frekels]

01:18 AM on 03/14/2012

If this was GW and Darth Vader doing this this board would be lit up like a X-mas tree. Where is code pink?

[victorzeller]

01:03 AM on 03/14/2012

ONLY 15, you would think that they could have gotten so many more.

[kdyumaaz]

12:45 AM on 03/14/2012

OK LIBS.. Name the, and their home towns, and why the US is WRONG.. You people disgust me..

[dead55]

12:04 AM on 03/14/2012

We use drones because we lack the political will and fear the US death toll it would take to put boots on the ground and solve the problem with bayonets. Stop whining and complaining about things you know nothing of., Stop feeling sympathy for those that would kill you in a heart beat.

[carl frekels]

12:30 AM on 03/14/2012

So since the President is a coward assassinations are ok?Is that what you mean?

[dead55]

04:30 AM on 03/14/2012

Nope, what I am saying is using "drones" will take a really long time to affect a change. To affect a faster and longer lasting change in these people we need to be willing to use the bayonet up close and personal so they know we are serious. .

[Brian Manning]

12:40 AM on 03/14/2012

I thought it was because putting soldiers on the ground in a sovereign nation whose government does not want them is illegal without UN approval, and considered an act of war with no justifiable cassus belli.
"Suspected militants" are people too.

[dead55]

04:26 AM on 03/14/2012

First and foremost we do not care what the UN has to say because they are a worthless organization that does little. Second, "suspected militants" should always be converted to "dead militants" or as you say "dead people" where ever we find them. These are the same people that are backed by those in the UN so killing them in Pakistan is better than killing them in New York don't you think. Don't just read the papers or watch the state run media to get your information. Get of your butt and come ruck the Hindu Kush with me and then I will ask you what you think of these "people".

[ectullis]

11:51 PM on 03/13/2012

Back to body counting?

[tulfs]

12:15 AM on 03/14/2012

and missles are expensive, just drop off another disgrutled lone wolf, he got 16!

[Admir Fidahic]

11:43 PM on 03/13/2012

I love the Suspected word. If not its just 15 civilians. Well I love being an American, but iam sure lot of countries are going to hate us for our technologies and for all the mess we getting involved.

[tulfs]

12:14 AM on 03/14/2012

Guess now that their dead we should as least suspect

[CapSen]

07:36 AM on 03/15/2012

Yep. It's like firing missiles into an inner city neighborhood because you spotted some suspected criminals. Might be some people strolling by that get killed, babies in their strollers, their mommies, grandma.

Who cares. Law enforcement modern stylee. Is that what you see in LA or Chicago every day? Guess not.