US Drone Strikes Kill 24 in North Waziristan

No Indication of Any 'High Value' Targets in Latest Killings

A pair of US drone attacks against North Waziristan Agency yesterday have killed at least 16 people and wounded a number of others. A third strike today killed another eight, bringing the toll up to 24. The slain were termed “suspected terrorists” by Pakistani security officials, though there was no indication of any high value targets slain.

One of the strikes destroyed a home in the village of Bushnarai, while another destroyed a car in Datta Khel. The attacks mark 12 US strikes in the agency in the past 12 days.

And while Pakistani officials have conceded that a number of civilians, including children, have been killed in the strike, they have yet to identify any of them as a known militant, terming the vast majority of them suspects.

Which has been the case with most of the massive drone campaign of the Obama Administration. Though a handful of named militants have been confirmed kills, the vast majority of the “suspects” are never identified, or turn out later to be innocent civilians whose guilt was assumed because of tribal affiliations.

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.