U.S. Predator Strike Kills 16 In South Waziristan

from The Long War Journal:


US airstrike kills 16 in South Waziristan

By Bill RoggioJuly 24, 2010





The US carried out just its second Predator strike in Pakistan this month, killing 16 people in an attack on a Taliban compound in South Waziristan.



Several Predator or the more deadly Reaper unmanned strike aircraft fired five missiles at a "hideout" used by the Movement of the Taliban in Pakistan in the Angora Adda area in South Waziristan, Geo News reported.



The exact number of Taliban and civilians killed in the strike is unknown. No senior Taliban or al Qaeda leaders have been reported killed in the strike.



Wana is under the control of Mullah Nazir, the leader of the Taliban in the Waziri tribal areas in South Waziristan. 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.



However, Nazir openly supports Mullah Omar and Osama bin Laden, and wages jihad in Afghanistan; more senior al Qaeda leaders have been killed in Nazir's tribal areas during the US air campaign than in those of any other Taliban leader in Pakistan. Nazir also shelters the Mehsuds from the Movement of the Taliban in Pakistan, in violation of the peace agreement with the Pakistani government.



The number of strikes has dramatically reduced over the past month. Today's strike is just the second reported inside Pakistan in July. Over the past year, the US has averaged between six to eight strikes a month.



Also, two out of the past three strikes have taken place in Nazir's tribal areas in South Waziristan. Previously the strikes this year have focused on regions under the control of the Haqqani Network and Hafiz Gul Bahadar.



So far this year, the US has carried out 47 strikes in Pakistan; all but four have taken place in North Waziristan. The other four strikes took place in South Waziristan and the tribal agency of Khyber.



The US is well on its way to exceeding last year’s strike total in Pakistan. In 2009, the US carried out 53 strikes in Pakistan; and in 2008, the US carried out 36 strikes in the country. [For up-to-date charts on the US air campaign in Pakistan, see LWJ Special Report, Charting the data for US airstrikes in Pakistan, 2004 - 2010.]











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