The US killed five suspected jihadists in a drone strike that targeted the Haqqani Network in Pakistan’s Taliban-controlled tribal agency of North Waziristan yesterday.
The CIA-operated, remotely piloted Predators or Reapers fired two missiles at a compound in the village of Manda Lawra in the Datta Khel area of North Waziristan, according to news reports from the region. Pakistani intelligence officials specified that the al Qaeda-linked Haqqani Network, which is a Taliban subgroup, was the target of the attack, Reuters reported.
The identities of those killed were not disclosed. The Taliban and other jihadist organizations such as al Qaeda that are known to operate in the Datta Khel have not announced the deaths of any senior leaders, commanders, or operatives.
The US has targeted members of the Afghan Taliban inside Pakistan in the past. The Haqqani Network, which is based in both Pakistan and Afghanistan and is supported by Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence Directorate, has been the recipient of 94 of the 389 recorded drone strikes that have occurred in Pakistan since 2004, according to data compiled by The Long War Journal. The last recorded US drone strike in Pakistan, on June 6, is said to have killed nine members of the Haqqani network in the Shawal Valley.
The Haqqani Network has upped its profile in the Taliban since the death of Mullah Omar, the group’s founder and first emir. Mullah Akhtar Mohammad Mansour, Omar’s successor, has appointed Sirajuddin Haqqani as one of his two deputy emirs. Siraj has been the target of multiple US drone strikes. And Jalaluddin Haqqani, the family patriarch and a veteran jihadist leader, remains a member of the Taliban’s Quetta Shura.
The Datta Khel area in North Waziristan, where yesterday’s drone strike took place, is a nexus of Taliban, Haqqani Network, and al Qaeda activity. Some of al Qaeda’s top leaders have been killed in drone strikes in Datta Khel, including Mustafa Abu Yazid, the group’s former general manager; Abdullah Said al Libi, the emir of the Lashkar-al-Zil; and Zuhaib al Zahibi, a top Lashkar-al-Zil general. [See LWJ report, ‘Foreign militants’ reported killed in latest US drone strike in Pakistan, for more details on Datta Khel and senior al Qaeda leaders killed there.]
Most recently, on Jan. 4, 2015, the US killed Qari ‘Imran, a member of al Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent’s leadership council, in a strike in Datta Khel.
The Pakistani military claimed in early September 2014 that it “cleared” Datta Khel of jihadist groups during Operation Zarb-e-Azb, which began on June 15, 2014. But the operation targeted only the so-called “bad” Taliban, such as the Movement of the Taliban in Pakistan and the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan. The Haqqani Network and the Hafiz Gul Bahadar Group were not targeted in the operation, despite Pakistani military claims to the contrary. The Pakistani state does not consider terrorist organizations such as the Haqqani Network and the Hafiz Gul Bahadar Group to be a threat as they do not openly advocate attacks against the government or military. But the so-called good Taliban shelter and support al Qaeda and other terrorist groups.
The US has now launched nine drone strikes in Datta Khel since the Pakistani military claimed it cleared the area in September 2014, indicating that the area remains a jihadist haven. [See LWJ report, US drones strike in jihadist stronghold in North Waziristan.]
Yesterday’s drone strike in North Waziristan is the ninth reported in Pakistan this year. Last year, the US launched 24 airstrikes inside Pakistan; 19 of those strikes took place in North Waziristan, four in South Waziristan, and one in Kurram. The number of operations in Pakistan has decreased since the program’s peak in 2010, when 117 attacks were recorded by The Long War Journal. [See LWJ report, Charting the data for US airstrikes in Pakistan, 2004 – 2015.]
2 Comments
Just 5 KIA’s! Huh? This ‘patty cake’ warfare should have upped its game long ago. Start using more powerful bombs/missile’s with a bigger blast radius for starters
Given the recent Kabul attacks, both Haqqani network and Taliban seem to be showing their teeth. Good luck, NDS. You have your own homegrowns, the Talibs, and the foreign crazies to deal with, especially since a number of them have been pushed your way by Sword of the Prophet. Uncover the ISI’s true role in supporting/directing the Taliban. Give the world a casus belli.