The US launched its second straight drone strike in a remote valley in Pakistan’s Taliban-controlled tribal agency of North Waziristan today, killing eight “militants.”
The remotely piloted Predators or the more advanced Reapers fired a pair of missiles at a compound in the Shawal Valley in North Waziristan, according to AFP. Pakistani officials said eight “militants,” including members of the Turkistan Islamic Party, a Chinese Islamist group, were killed in the strike along with fighters loyal to Hafiz Gul Bahadar, according to The Associated Press. The compound was set afire, burning several of the bodies beyond recognition.
No senior al Qaeda, Taliban, or allied jihadist commanders are reported to have been killed in the strike.
Today’s strike in Shawal is the second in the valley this week. On June 26, a similar strike on a compound in Shawal killed five militants. So far this year, four of the 25 drone strikes in Pakistan have hit targets in the Shawal Valley.
Al Qaeda, the Movement of the Taliban in Pakistan, and Taliban fighters under the command of Hafiz Gul Bahadar, the leader of the Taliban in North Waziristan, are all known to operate in the Shawal Valley, which is near the Afghan border. The area is used to launch attacks across the border in Afghanistan.
Bahadar administers the Shawal Valley. In 2009, Bahadar sheltered the families of Hakeemullah Mehsud, the leader of the Movement of the Taliban in Pakistan, and Waliur Rehman Mehsud, the group’s leader in South Waziristan, after the Pakistani military launched an offensive in the Mehsud areas of South Waziristan [see LWJ report, Taliban escape South Waziristan operation].
Bahadar, Hakeemullah, South Waziristan Taliban commander Mullah Nazir, and Sirajuddin Haqqani of the Haqqani Network, are members of the Shura-e-Murakeba, an alliance formed in late 2011. The four commanders agreed to cease attacks against Pakistani security forces, refocus efforts against the US and NATO in Afghanistan, and end kidnappings and other criminal activities in the tribal areas.
The deal was brokered by senior al Qaeda leader Abu Yahya al Libi as well as by Sirajuddin Haqqani, the operational leader of the Haqqani Network, and Mullah Mansour, a senior Taliban leader who operates in eastern Afghanistan. An al Qaeda leader known as Abdur Rehman Al Saudi was also involved in the negotiations. Mullah Omar, the overall leader of the Taliban in Afghanistan and Pakistan, is said to have dispatched Siraj and Mansour to help negotiate the agreement [see LWJ report, Al Qaeda brokers new anti-US Taliban alliance in Pakistan and Afghanistan].
Background on the US strikes in Pakistan
Today’s strike is the fourth in Pakistan since June 4, when the US killed Abu Yahya al Libi, one of al Qaeda’s top leaders, propagandists, and religious figures. Abu Yahya was killed in a strike on a compound in Mir Ali. Uzbek, Tajik, and Turkmen fighters belonging to the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan were reportedly among the 14 terrorists killed along with Abu Yahya.
Al Qaeda has since released two videos of Abu Yahya; both appear to have been produced sometime after November 2011. The first video, which appears to have been taped long ago, addressed the Syrian revolution. Abu Yahya spoke about US ethics in the second video. Abu Yahya did not address reports of his death in either video. [See Threat Matrix reports, As Sahab releases video of Abu Yahya al Libi; Al Qaeda suggests Abu Yahya al Libi is alive, promises video; and Al Qaeda releases another tape from Abu Yahya al Libi.]
The US has carried out 25 strikes in Pakistan so far this year. Seven of the strikes have taken place since the beginning of June; five occurred in North Waziristan and two were in South Waziristan. Twelve of this year’s 25 strikes in Pakistan have taken place since May 22, one day after the US failed to persuade Pakistan at the NATO summit in Chicago to reopen NATO’s supply lines to Afghanistan. [For data on the strikes, see LWJ reports, Charting the data for US airstrikes in Pakistan, 2004 – 2012; and Senior al Qaeda and Taliban leaders killed in US airstrikes in Pakistan, 2004 – 2012.]
The drone program was scaled back dramatically from the end of March to the beginning of the fourth week in May. Between March 30 and May 22, the US conducted only three drones strikes in Pakistan’s tribal areas as US officials attempted to renegotiate the reopening of NATO’s supply lines, which have been closed since the end of November 2011. Pakistan closed the supply lines following the Mohmand incident in November 2011, in which US troops killed 24 Pakistani soldiers. The Pakistani soldiers were killed after they opened fire on US troops operating across the border in Kunar province, Afghanistan.
A US intelligence official involved in the drone program in the country told The Long War Journal on May 28 that the strikes would continue now that Pakistan has refused to reopen NATO’s supply lines for the International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan.
In addition to Abu Yahya, two other high-value targets have been killed in the strikes this year. A Jan. 11 strike in Miramshah, the main town in North Waziristan, killed Aslam Awan, a deputy to the leader of al Qaeda’s external operations network.
And on Feb. 8, the US killed Badr Mansoor, a senior Taliban and al Qaeda leader, in a strike in Miramshah’s bazaar. Mansoor ran training camps in the area and sent fighters to battle NATO and Afghan forces across the border, and linked up members of the Harakat-ul-Mujahideen with al Qaeda to fight in Afghanistan. Osama bin Laden described Mansoor as one of several commanders of al Qaeda’s “companies” operating in the tribal areas. He was later promoted to lead al Qaeda’s forces in the tribal areas.
The program has been scaled down from its peak in 2010, when the US conducted 117 strikes, according to data collected by The Long War Journal. In 2011, the US carried out just 64 strikes in Pakistan’s border regions.
So far this year, the US has launched one more strike in Pakistan (25) against al Qaeda and allied terror groups than it has in Yemen (24) against al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula. In 2011, however, the US launched only 10 airstrikes in Yemen, versus 64 in Pakistan.
8 Comments
any info on this maneuver??
http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2012\07\01\story_1-7-2012_pg7_3
Shawal Valley is clearly critical to enemy operations, but where is it? I can’t find a map that shows the Shawal Valley in either Afghanistan or Pakistan. Is it the mountains south of Parachinar?
That the compound was set afire is another strong indication that ISAF & Afghan forces are operating on the ground in close proximity to the designated target(s). This focus of turning transit routes & rallying/staging areas located in Pakistan into zones of contention as opposed to zones of contention located in Afghanistan will hopefully be more than semi permanent & sustainable.
Brian L, I was searching for Shawal for the same reason. I found it on Google Earth and it appears to be in South Waziristan bordering Paktika province. If you follow the road/terrain you can tell it’s a decent spot for a safehouse/safe village. Hell almost a safe country. According to G Earth it’s 350*/22miles from Wana.
@ Brian L
maps for you to peruse
http://www.khyber.org/maps.shtml
http://travelingluck.com/Asia/Pakistan/Federally+Administered+Tribal+Areas/_1476154_Shaw%C4%81l.html
one the better maps I’ve found is in a book authored by Evelyn Howell titled MIZH
The Shawal is around 60 miles SW of Miramshah give or take
@Mike and William, thanks very much. Found it quickly, thanks to the both of you.
Guess it will be a few decades before Google adds “Street View” the Shawal Valley…. 😉
I had the same question myself. But now i found a map.
http://www.criticalthreats.org/sites/default/files/pdf_upload/analysis/North_Waziristan_Agency.pdf
You will never hide under this US drone! tech