32 Killed in US Drone Strikes in North and South Waziristan

Updated 10/31 7:40 PM EST

US drones launched two separate attacks in the North and South Waziristan Agencies of Pakistan today, killing 32 people.

The primary target in North Waziristan appears to be a “mid level al-Qaeda leader” known as Abu Akash al-Iraqi. One Pakistani intelligence official said that he was believed to have been killed in the strike, though other officials cited local intelligence reports saying he was likely not one of the dead.

The attack in South Waziristan is less clear, coming less than a mile away from a Pakistani Army base in Wana. Militants do appear to have been among those killed in both strikes however.

The United States has been launching drone strikes into North and South Waziristan on a fairly regular basis over the past few months, and this is the second one this week. The strikes led the Pakistani government to summon US ambassador Anne Patterson to complain on Wednesday.

Local tribesmen are also growing increasingly impatient with the US attacks, with reports having them opening fire on the invading drones with “heavy and automatic weapons” during overflights yesterday.

Author: Jason Ditz

Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.