The US launched its first drone airstrike inside Pakistan in more
than two weeks, killing four "militants" today in an area of Pakistan
that has been under Taliban control for eight years.
The CIA-operated, unmanned Predators or the more heavily operated Reapers fired a pair of missiles at a compound in Tabai outside of Miramshah, a stronghold of the Haqqani Network. Pakistani intelligence officials told AFP that four "militants" were killed. The compound was "suspected of being a militants' hideout," according to Xinhua.
The exact target of the strike has not been disclosed. No senior Taliban or al Qaeda operatives have been reported killed in the strike.
Miramshah serves as the headquarters of the al Qaeda-linked Haqqani Network, a powerful Taliban subgroup that operates in both Afghanistan and Pakistan and is supported by Pakistan's military and its Inter-Services Intelligence Directorate. The Haqqani Network is one of four major Taliban groups that joined the Shura-e-Murakeba, an alliance brokered by al Qaeda late last year. The Shura-e-Murakeba also includes Hafiz Gul Bahadar's group; Mullah Nazir's group; and the Movement of the Taliban in Pakistan, which is led by Hakeemullah Mehsud and his deputy, Waliur Rehman Mehsud. The members of the Shura-e-Murakeba agreed to cease attacks against Pakistani security forces, refocus efforts against the US, and end kidnappings and other criminal activities in the tribal areas.
Today's strike took place just one day after the completion of a NATO conference on Afghanistan. the US had hoped that the Pakistani government would reopen NATO's supply lines, which have run through Pakistan in the past but have been shut down for six months. The Pakistani government has not made a decision on reopening the supply lines. Pakistan's parliament has demanded that the US end the drone strikes in the tribal areas as a condition for the reopening of the NATO supply lines that run through Pakistan into Afghanistan.
The CIA-operated, unmanned Predators or the more heavily operated Reapers fired a pair of missiles at a compound in Tabai outside of Miramshah, a stronghold of the Haqqani Network. Pakistani intelligence officials told AFP that four "militants" were killed. The compound was "suspected of being a militants' hideout," according to Xinhua.
The exact target of the strike has not been disclosed. No senior Taliban or al Qaeda operatives have been reported killed in the strike.
Miramshah serves as the headquarters of the al Qaeda-linked Haqqani Network, a powerful Taliban subgroup that operates in both Afghanistan and Pakistan and is supported by Pakistan's military and its Inter-Services Intelligence Directorate. The Haqqani Network is one of four major Taliban groups that joined the Shura-e-Murakeba, an alliance brokered by al Qaeda late last year. The Shura-e-Murakeba also includes Hafiz Gul Bahadar's group; Mullah Nazir's group; and the Movement of the Taliban in Pakistan, which is led by Hakeemullah Mehsud and his deputy, Waliur Rehman Mehsud. The members of the Shura-e-Murakeba agreed to cease attacks against Pakistani security forces, refocus efforts against the US, and end kidnappings and other criminal activities in the tribal areas.
Today's strike took place just one day after the completion of a NATO conference on Afghanistan. the US had hoped that the Pakistani government would reopen NATO's supply lines, which have run through Pakistan in the past but have been shut down for six months. The Pakistani government has not made a decision on reopening the supply lines. Pakistan's parliament has demanded that the US end the drone strikes in the tribal areas as a condition for the reopening of the NATO supply lines that run through Pakistan into Afghanistan.
Read more: http://www.longwarjournal.org/archives/2012/05/us_drones_kill_4_mil.php#ixzz1vgLV6pDD
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