CIA Predator drones launched three separate attacks in North Waziristan today, destroying two vehicles and a house in the Pakistani tribal agency, killing at least 13 “suspected militants” and wounding an unknown number of others.
The attacks were in three separate portions of the region, targeting the towns of Mir Ali, Datta Khel and Miramshah. Though Pakistani officials say that those slain were all “suspects” and five of them may have been from Uzbekistan, none of them appear to have been high value targets and no one has been named as a known militant.
The US has been launching nearly daily attacks against North Waziristan for the past several months, and the Obama Administration has been increasing pressure on the Pakistani government to promise a military invasion of the agency, though they have yet to do so.
Previous Pakistani invasions of neighboring agencies have accomplished little and created humanitarian disasters, and many of the militant factions in North Waziristan are in a state of relative peace with the Pakistani government, making such an attack extremely risky for a military already stretched awfully thin. Secret talks have been ongoing in Afghanistan trying to start a tribal feud involving some of the key factions, including the Haqqani network.