Predators kill 8 in South Waziristan strike

US Predators struck for the second time in 24 hours in Pakistan’s Taliban-controlled tribal agencies, killing eight “militants” in South Waziristan.

The unmanned Predators or the more deadly Reapers fired missiles at a compound in the Birmal area of South Waziristan. The compound is “believed to be the hideout of al-Qaeda-linked terrorists,” SAMAA reported.

No senior commanders from the Taliban, al Qaeda, or allied terror groups based in the area are reported to have been killed. Several other fighters are said to have been wounded in the attack.

The Birmal area is under the influence of Hakeemullah Mehsud’s Movement of the Taliban in Pakistan. The Taliban group battles the Pakistani government and also conducts attacks on NATO and Afghan forces in Afghanistan. The Movement of the Taliban in Pakistan is closely allied to al Qaeda, and nearly succeeded in detonating a car bomb in Times Square, New York on May 1, 2010. The device failed due to a problem with the trigger.

US Predators struck once before in the Birmal area. On June 27, 2011, Predators fired four missiles at a vehicle in the Birmal area, killing eight “militants.” No senior terrorist leader was reported killed in the strike.

The Predator strikes, by the numbers

Today’s strike is the third in Pakistan’s tribal areas this month, and the second in 24 hours. The last attack, on July 11, killed 12 “militants” at a compound and in a vehicle in the village of Gorvak in North Waziristan. From January through June 2011, the strikes in Pakistan were as follows: nine strikes in January, three strikes in February, seven in March, two in April, seven in May, and 12 in June. The previous four months, from September to December 2010, averaged almost 16 strikes per month (21 in September, 16 in October, 14 in November, and 12 in December).

So far this year, the US has carried out 43 strikes in Pakistan, and is well off the pace of the 117 attacks that took place in 2010. In 2010, the US more than doubled the number of strikes that had occurred in 2009; by late August 2010, the US had exceeded 2009’s strike total of 53 with a strike in Kurram. In 2008, the US carried out a total of 36 strikes inside Pakistan. [For up-to-date charts on the US air campaign in Pakistan, see LWJ Special Report, Charting the data for US airstrikes in Pakistan, 2004 – 2011.]

In 2010 the strikes were concentrated almost exclusively in North Waziristan, where the Afghan and Pakistani Taliban, the Haqqani Network, al Qaeda, and a host of Pakistani and Central and South Asian terror groups are based. All but 13 of the 117 strikes took place North Waziristan. Of the 13 strikes occurring outside of North Waziristan in 2010, seven were executed in South Waziristan, five were in Khyber, and one was in Kurram. This year, an increasing number of strikes are taking place in South Waziristan. So far in 2011, 27 of the 43 strikes have taken place in North Waziristan, 15 strikes have occurred in South Waziristan, and one took place in Kurram.

Since Sept. 1, 2010, the US has conducted 104 strikes in Pakistan’s tribal agencies. The bulk of those attacks have aimed at the terror groups in North Waziristan, with 81 strikes in the tribal agency. Many of the strikes have targeted cells run by the Islamic Jihad Group, which have been plotting to conduct Mumbai-styled terror assaults in Europe. A Sept. 8 strike killed an IJG commander known as Qureshi, who specialized in training Germans to conduct attacks in their home country.

The US campaign in northwestern Pakistan has targeted top al Qaeda leaders, al Qaeda’s external operations network, and Taliban leaders and fighters who threaten both the Afghan and Pakistani states as well as support al Qaeda’s external operations. The campaign has been largely successful in focusing on terrorist targets and avoiding civilian casualties, as recently affirmed by the Pakistani military.

For a list of al Qaeda and Taliban leaders killed in the US air campaign in Pakistan, see LWJ Special Report, Senior al Qaeda and Taliban leaders killed in US airstrikes in Pakistan, 2004 – 2011.

Tags: Pakistan, Taliban