U.S. Missile Attacks Kill 9 in Pakistan
U.S. sharply escalates use of unmanned drone missile strikes targeting militants in Pakistan’s border region
Update: Supporters of a Pakistani religious party Jamaat-e-Islami arrive to join a rally against U.S. drone strikes in Pakistani tribal areas, on April 23, 2011 in Peshawar, Pakistan. (Photo credit: Mohammad Sajjad / AP)
By Rasool Dawar
October 16, 2010
MIR ALI, Pakistan — Suspected U.S. unmanned aircraft launched two missile strikes in a Pakistani tribal region along the Afghan border, killing nine people, Pakistani intelligence officials said. …
The missile attacks targeted two villages near Mir Ali in North Waziristan, intelligence officials said on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk with the press.
The officials said three were killed Friday during the first missile strike, which hit a vehicle in Machi Khel. The dead have not yet been identified, but the village is known to house a mix of militants from the Afghan Taliban and local Pakistani insurgent groups.
The second missile strike occurred several hours later, killing six suspected militants at a house in Aziz Khel.
The U.S. has sharply escalated its use of unmanned drone missile strikes targeting militants in Pakistan’s border region in the last two months.
The U.S. rarely acknowledges the covert missile program, but officials have said privately the attacks have killed several senior Taliban and al-Qaida commanders. Pakistan officially opposes the program but is believed to secretly support it.
The U.S. carried out 21 such strikes in September, nearly double the previous monthly record, and it has already launched 16 this month including those Friday, according to an Associated Press count. …
Elsewhere in Pakistan, gunmen ambushed a truck early in the morning as it was returning home after delivering NATO supplies in Afghanistan, killing the driver and his assistant. Local official Iqbal Khan said the truck was attacked near Jamrud in the Khyber tribal region.
It was the most recent in a rash of assaults on the Pakistan supply line used to carry non-lethal goods including fuel, military vehicles, spare parts and clothing to foreign troops in landlocked Afghanistan.
Nearly 150 trucks were destroyed as they sat idle during the 11 days Pakistan closed a key border crossing in protest of a NATO helicopter strike that killed two Pakistani border guards. Pakistan reopened the route Sunday.
The U.S. and NATO at one point sent about 80 percent of their non-lethal supplies through Pakistan into Afghanistan, but have been steadily reducing that amount. Now about 40 percent of supplies now come through Pakistan, 40 percent through the Central Asian routes, and 20 percent by air.
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Related reports on this site
U.S. Missile Strikes in Pakistan (Oct. 8, 2010)
Simmering U.S.-Pakistan Tension (Oct. 4, 2010)
U.S. Supply Convoy Torched Again (Oct. 3, 2010)
Pakistan Shuts U.S. Supply Line (Sept. 30, 2010)
U.S. Missile Barrage in Pakistan (Sept. 9, 2010)
Pakistanis Protest U.S. Airstrikes (Jan. 27, 2009)
U.S. Drone Down in Pakistan (Sept. 24, 2008)
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FROM THE ARCHIVES: One Year Ago — October 15, 2009
Pakistan Guerrilla War Has Begun
A Pakistani bomb disposal squad member removes a suicide jacket from the body of an assailant at the Federal Investigation Agency. Five people, including three officers, were killed in this particular attack. (Photo credit: Arif Ali / AFP — Getty Images)
One year ago today, I reported that the wave of anti-government violence in Pakistan had escalated to the level of low-intensity guerrilla war.
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FROM THE ARCHIVES: Two Years Ago — October 15 2008
After the Primary Election: Day 36
Two years ago today, on the 36th day after losing my 2008 primary challenge against U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann in Minnesota’s 6th Congressional District, in line with my focus on national security, I reported that the Afghan insurgency had spread beyond traditional Taliban strongholds, with the number of attacks in the country at a six-year high; recommended Peter Galbraith’s book Unintended Consequences: How War in Iraq Strengthened America’s Enemies; and posted a link to my own statement on the Iraq war for the purpose of comparison.
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May 15th, 2011 at 8:48 am
[…] Ties have frayed in recent months over the case of Raymond Davis, a CIA contractor who killed two Pakistanis in January 2011, as well as missile strikes that have allegedly killed civilians. Davis, who claimed the two Pakistanis were trying to rob him, was eventually freed after the victims families agreed to financial compensation, even as the U.S. insisted he had diplomatic immunity from prosecution. […]
June 6th, 2011 at 4:02 am
[…] American drones began firing missiles at al-Qaida and Taliban targets along the border in 2005, but the attacks picked up pace in 2008 and have have risen in frequency ever since. […]
August 5th, 2011 at 3:19 pm
[…] Obama Missile Strikes Continue (Oct. 15, 2010) […]
October 17th, 2011 at 4:00 am
[…] Obama Missile Strikes Continue to Escalate in Pakistan […]