Pakistan: Suspected U.S. Drone Kills Five Militants, Including Powerful Commander

[High_Gravity]

Pakistan: Suspected U.S. Drone Kills Five Militants, Including Powerful Commander

DERA ISMAIL KHAN, Pakistan — Suspected U.S. unmanned aircraft fired six missiles at a vehicle in Pakistan's rugged tribal region Thursday, killing five militants, including a close ally to one of the area's top commanders, Pakistani intelligence officials said.

The attack in the South Waziristan tribal area killed Khan Mohammed, also known as Sathai, deputy leader of a group of militants led by Maulvi Nazir and also the commander's cousin, said the officials.

The strike also killed Nazir's younger brother, Hazrat Omar, said the officials, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to the media.

Nazir is one of the most powerful militant commanders in the tribal region and is accused of working with the Taliban and al-Qaida to stage attacks against foreign troops in neighboring Afghanistan.

He is believed to have close relations with Pakistani intelligence and agreed to stay neutral when the military invaded South Waziristan in 2009 to fight the Pakistani Taliban, who have focused their attacks against the Pakistani state.

The U.S. has criticized Pakistan for failing to crack down on militants staging attacks in Afghanistan and has stepped up drone attacks in the tribal region to combat them.

The militants killed in Thursday's drone strike were riding in a double-cabin pickup truck from Tora Gola village to the nearby area of Azam Warsak when they were hit, said the intelligence officials. Three other people were injured in the attack, they said.

The U.S. refuses to acknowledge the CIA-run drone program in Pakistan publicly, but officials have said privately that the strikes have killed many senior al-Qaida and Taliban commanders.

Pakistani officials regularly criticize the attacks in public as violations of the country's sovereignty, but the government has actually supported them in private and allowed the drones to take off from bases within Pakistan.

That cooperation has become strained this year as the relationship between the U.S. and Pakistan has deteriorated, especially following the arrest of a CIA contractor in January and the covert American raid that killed al-Qaida chief Osama bin Laden in a Pakistani garrison town in May.

Before Thursday's strike, a Pakistani army convoy was hit by a roadside bomb in the Shakai area of South Waziristan. The explosion killed two soldiers and wounded three others, said intelligence officials.

South Waziristan was the main sanctuary for the Pakistani Taliban before the military invaded in 2009. Many of the militants fled the area, but attacks still occur periodically.

Pakistan: Suspected U.S. Drone Kills Five Militants, Including Powerful Commander

 

[Mr. H.]

Wow.
But... 6 missles?

 

[High_Gravity]

Wow.
But... 6 missles?

Good, fuck em.

 

[Mr. H.]

This has been one of Obama's few redeeming qualities- swift dispatch of militants.

 

[High_Gravity]

This has been one of Obama's few redeeming qualities- swift dispatch of militants.

If Obama handled the economy as well as he handles militants, we would be in good shape.

 

[Mr. H.]

This is about my only concern about a possible change in administration - that such attacks will be scaled back.

 

[High_Gravity]

This is about my only concern about a possible change in administration - that such attacks will be scaled back.

They probably will, I know people like to say George Bush was a cowboy but even he wasn't wacking terrorists like this.

 

[Ropey]

No, a new tide has turned imo. Expect more surgical strikes and less boots.

 

[High_Gravity]

No, a new tide has turned imo. Expect more surgical strikes and less boots.

Alot of Obamas critics are killing him for these strikes, saying he is being too aggressive.

 

[Sallow]

This is about my only concern about a possible change in administration - that such attacks will be scaled back.

They probably will, I know people like to say George Bush was a cowboy but even he wasn't wacking terrorists like this.

There were, of course, a great deal more of innocent civilians dying.

Shooting up weddings is never a good thing.

 

[Sallow]

No, a new tide has turned imo. Expect more surgical strikes and less boots.

Alot of Obamas critics are killing him for these strikes, saying he is being too aggressive.

This should be how it's done. Death from above. And killing the right people.

 

[Sallow]

This has been one of Obama's few redeeming qualities- swift dispatch of militants.

If Obama handled the economy as well as he handles militants, we would be in good shape.

With terrorists, congress has very little say.

 

[High_Gravity]

No, a new tide has turned imo. Expect more surgical strikes and less boots.

Alot of Obamas critics are killing him for these strikes, saying he is being too aggressive.

This should be how it's done. Death from above. And killing the right people.

I agree, better this way than invading whole countries and rebuilding them.

 

[adeel_sami]

Good good !! I am sure there are still so many to go !!!

 

[Mr. H.]

Another:

Suspected US missiles kill 2 in Pakistan - Yahoo! News

A suspected U.S. drone fired two missiles at a house in Pakistan's rugged tribal region Thursday, killing two insurgents from the Haqqani network — considered the most dangerous militant group fighting U.S. forces in neighboring Afghanistan, Pakistani intelligence officials said.

 

[adeel_sami]

Good work !!!

Hit more !! Pakistan is the safest shelter for the terrorists at the moment ...

 

[Intense]

This has been one of Obama's few redeeming qualities- swift dispatch of militants.

If Obama handled the economy as well as he handles militants, we would be in good shape.

With terrorists, congress has very little say.

There are raised Legal questions. This is new ground, at least in relation to when the Targets are American Citizens. Then there is the Question of no Oversight, no due process, no checks and balances.

There is a Positive and a Negative involved here.

NEW YORK – U.S. airstrikes in Yemen today killed Anwar Al-Aulaqi, an American citizen who has never been charged with any crime.

ACLU Deputy Legal Director Jameel Jaffer said, "The targeted killing program violates both U.S. and international law. As we've seen today, this is a program under which American citizens far from any battlefield can be executed by their own government without judicial process, and on the basis of standards and evidence that are kept secret not just from the public but from the courts. The government's authority to use lethal force against its own citizens should be limited to circumstances in which the threat to life is concrete, specific and imminent. It is a mistake to invest the President – any President – with the unreviewable power to kill any American whom he deems to present a threat to the country."

ACLU National Security Project Litigation Director Ben Wizner said, "Outside the theater of war, the use of lethal force is lawful only as a last resort to counter an imminent threat of deadly attack. Based on the administration's public statements, the program that the President has authorized is far more sweeping. If the Constitution means anything, it surely means that the President does not have unreviewable authority to summarily execute any American whom he concludes is an enemy of the state."

More information on the government's targeted killing policy is available at:
Al-Aulaqi v. Obama | American Civil Liberties Union