US drones launched the 22nd drone attack of 2012 today in Miramshah, North Waziristan Agency. The attack destroyed a small home in the village, killing all four people within, and damaged several nearby houses.
The identities of the victims are unknown, but officials predictably labeled all four “suspected militants.” Since 2009, the US has killed over 2,000 people in Pakistan with drone strikes, but less than 50 were ever named.
The attack comes just days after the US withdrew negotiators from Pakistan aimed at reopening the border into occupied Afghanistan. Pakistan had sought an end to the drone strikes as a condition for reopening the border.
US officials have defended the drone strikes as a vital part of the ongoing global war on terror, and have shrugged off the civilian deaths, saying that the strikes are for the most part accurate.