U.S. Drone Kills Five in Northwest Pakistan

[tekisui]

Source: Reuters

ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - A U.S. drone aircraft killed five militants in Pakistan's North Waziristan region on the Afghan border on Sunday, Pakistani security officials said.

The United States has stepped up its drone attacks in the al Qaeda and Taliban sanctuary of North Waziristan since a Jordanian suicide bomber killed seven CIA employees at a U.S. base over the border in eastern Afghanistan in late December.

Sunday's two-missile strike was on a militant compound near the town of Mir Ali, 280 km (175 miles) southwest of Islamabad, said the Pakistani security officials.

There was no information about the identity of those killed, they said.

The attack came as U.S. forces spearhead one of NATO's biggest offensives against the Taliban in Afghanistan in an early test of U.S. President Barack Obama's troop surge policy.

more: http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE61D0TX20100214

[Name removed]

1. Deleted message

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[Bluebear]

2. "killed 5 militants" - - but 'There was no information about the identity of those killed, they said

!?!?

[tekisui]

3. If it's dead, it's a terrorist, dontcha know?

[Bluebear]

4. Must be the "#2 mastermind of 9/11"

[MidwestTransplant]

5. Um maybe its not being disclosed at this point. I don't imagine we are just targeting cars or

houses with drones without the faintest idea of who is in them.

[EFerrari]

7. Really? The Pentagon seems to do that all the time.

The first reports always say X militants killed.

The subsequent ones usually turn out to be a list of civilians and suspected militants killed.

That qualifies as faint in my book.

[MidwestTransplant]

9. That's not with drone strikes. They go after HVTs with drones in Pakistan.

[EFerrari]

11. Maybe I'm misundersanding you. This story says that last year, over 300 civilians

were killed by drones in Pakistan:

http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2009/10/up-to-320-civilians-killed-in-pakistan-drone-war-report/

[MidwestTransplant]

12. Right and there is collateral damage. My point is that they knew who they were shooting at.

[EFerrari]

13. Okay, gotcha. n/t

[Bluebear]

8. Um you haven't been paying attention to the "collateral damage" of these drones

[MidwestTransplant]

10. There is collateral damage but that doesn't mean they weren't shooting at somebody in particular.

With drones in Pakistan, they are.

[Mari333]

6. more money for oil corporate CEOs and defense contractors

god forgive us .