A United States drone targetted and engaged a tribal area outside the regional capital, Miranshah. The earliest reports said that many militants were among the dead, because the area is a known al-Qaeda and Taliban stronghold. This was found to be untrue as bodies were identified, though reports of an accurate count are impossible due to the fact that the media is prohibited from being in the area. This strike is said to have killed more civilians than any other US drone strike since 2006. From the two drones involved in the attack, one missile was fired at a car carrying Sharabat Khan, a commander for Hafiz Gul Bahadur of the Taliban. This was one of the only military figures hit in the attack. The other three missiles fired struck the tribal meeting called a jirga, which resulted in the bulk of the casualties. It has been reported that no militant figures were present at the jirga; it was instead a meeting over a local land dispute.
All of this increases Pakistan’s anger toward the US as CIA contractor Raymond Davis was recently acquitted of murdering two men from Lahore. The US government supposedly paid “blood money” to the families of the two men, which the Pakistani government says is not applicable because it was an act of United States terrorism.
Student Researcher: Kinner Spaulding
Faculty Supervisor: Elliot Cohen
Indian River State College
Sources:
BBC News, US drone strike ‘kills 40’ in Pakistani tribal region HYPERLINK http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-south-asia-12769209