Okay...I was getting nervous as we hadn't seen a predator drone attack inside of Pakistan for a number of days but today, the silence was broken as two hellfires hit an al Qaeda/Taliban training camp inside of Pakistan at the village of Gangi Khel - this has been a popular target for us with this the third airstrike here just this year. Eight Taliban are being reported killed in the attack and of course, it's too early to know of any high value targets being taken out. Here's the details from the article at The Long War Journal:
You can read between the lines there where the intelligence official call Gangi Khel a "Taliban hotbed"....as him saying that a few hellfires from some predators are like using a squirt gun on a raging fire at a 30 story hotel.
The fact of the matter is that it's places like Gangi Khel that needs to be leveled by artillery and fixed wing aircraft - this is a prime example of where Pakistan and NATO should be working in unison to literally turn this village, this training camp complex of the Taliban and al Qaeda into a section of hot glass. Don't get me wrong...I'm pleased to see the predator strikes continuing but it's no where enough, especially if we aren't taking out the commanders.
The US launched an attack against a terror training camp in Pakistan's Taliban-controlled tribal agency of South Waziristan.
An unmanned Predator strike aircraft fired two Hellfire missiles at a Taliban and al Qaeda training camp in Gangi Khel near the town of Wana, a US intelligence official familiar with the attacks in Pakistan's northwest told The Long War Journal. The camp was also used by the Jaish-e-Mohammed, a Pakistani terror group that has fought in Kashmir but has largely relocated to Pakistan's tribal areas, the official said.
Eight Taliban fighters are thought to have been killed in the strike, Geo News reported. No senior Taliban or al Qaeda leaders have been reported killed at this time.
Today's strike in Gangi Khel is the third attack in the village time this year. "The place is a Taliban hotbed," the US intelligence official said. A Jan. 23 Predator attack hit a Taliban compound in the town. Ten al Qaeda and Taliban fighters were reported killed in that attack. An April 8 strike on a Taliban truck at a bazaar killed four Taliban and al Qaeda fighters.
You can read between the lines there where the intelligence official call Gangi Khel a "Taliban hotbed"....as him saying that a few hellfires from some predators are like using a squirt gun on a raging fire at a 30 story hotel.
The fact of the matter is that it's places like Gangi Khel that needs to be leveled by artillery and fixed wing aircraft - this is a prime example of where Pakistan and NATO should be working in unison to literally turn this village, this training camp complex of the Taliban and al Qaeda into a section of hot glass. Don't get me wrong...I'm pleased to see the predator strikes continuing but it's no where enough, especially if we aren't taking out the commanders.
US airstrike targets Taliban training camp in South Waziristan
Maulana Masood Azhar, the leader the Jaish-e-Mohammad, and Rashid Rauf, an al Qaeda and Jaish-e-Mohammed leader, are thought to be operating in North and South Waziristan. Rauf was thought to have been killed in a US airstrike in North Waziristan, but the report was never confirmed. Rauf was later identified as the primary plotter for an attack that was broken up in England.
The town of Wana is a stronghold of South Waziristan Taliban commander Mullah Nazir, a former rival and now ally of Pakistani Taliban leader Baitullah Mehsud. The US targeted Nazir and Tahir Yuldashev, the leader of the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan, in a strike near Wana on Nov. 7. Nazir was wounded in the attack. Yuldashev's status is still unknown, but it is believed he survived the attack.
The US is on pace to exceed last year's total of 36 airstrikes in Pakistan. Today’s strike is the fourth this month and the fifteenth inside Pakistan this year. The last attack took place on April 8 in a town near Wana.
The Pakistani government officially protests the Predator strikes, but behind the scenes the government allows the attacks and the military passes some intelligence to US intelligence to target Taliban leaders.
Nazir is one of three senior Taliban leaders in new alliance against the West
Nazir joined forces with senior Taliban leaders Hafiz Gul Bahadar and Baitullah Mehsud in February of this year to form the Council of United Mujahideen. The three leaders said they "united according to the wishes of Mujahideen leaders like Mullah Muhammad Omar and Sheikh Osama bin Laden.".
The Council of United Mujahideen had pamphlets distributed throughout North and South Waziristan to announce its formation. The council threatened to strike at the US and other countries. The pamphlets also said the Taliban alliance “supported Mullah Muhammad Omar and Osama bin Laden’s struggle” against the administrations of US President Barack Obama, Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari, and Afghan President Hamid Karzai.
The new alliance further stated it was waging war “in an organized manner’” to “stop the infidels from carrying out acts of barbarism against innocent people” just as Omar and bin Laden were waging war against Pakistan, Afghanistan, and the US.
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