At least eight people were killed today and several others were wounded after US drone strikes destroyed two cars and a home in the North Waziristan Agency of Pakistan. The attack was the latest in a series of almost daily attacks over the past several weeks.
Officials conceded that they have no idea who any of the people killed in today’s attacks were. This is unusual because Pakistani officials have generally labeled the victims of US strikes as “suspects” even before their identities become clear. The lack of such a label might point to an increased cynicism about the growing US attacks against increasingly dubious targets.
Pakistan’s government has tried to carve out an odd middle ground on the drone strikes, loudly championing their own involvement on the rare occasion when a drone actually kills a militant while angrily condemning media reports of their involvement in the drone program as a “conspiracy theory.”
The drone strikes have increasingly taken a back seat in Pakistani news however since NATO launched several cross border strikes using attack helicopters. When one of those killed three Pakistani soldiers, the government shut the border to NATO supply traffic. After days of defending the attack US officials apologized for the killing, and Pakistan reopened the border today.