While the Pakistani army continues it's South Waziristan operation against the Pakistani Taliban, an airstrike by American predator drones hit a known al Qaeda hideout in North Waziristan killing three al Qaeda targets. At this point, there has been no identification of the "dearly" departed but that might take a few days - hopefully, it will reveal some mid to high level al Qaeda bad guys are walking the halls of Hell. From the report at The Long War Journal:
This is excellent news as one of my fears was that, during the South Waziristan operation, the U.S. would back off on the UAV attacks - well, there's three al Qaeda that can now attest that this isn't the case.
I've discussed how the Pakistanis are going after the biggest threat to THEIR security...that being the Taliban in South Waziristan while much of the threat to U.S. and NATO troops in Afghanistan are in North Waziristan. This is why these drone attacks are so important. And at the same time, I am not convinced that if the Pakistani military is successful in South Waziristan that they will not take a look at the Taliban and al Qaeda in the northern province. Let's hope they do.
US aircraft have struck at al Qaeda in Pakistan's lawless, Taliban-controlled tribal agency of North Waziristan.
Unmanned aircraft, likely Predators or Reapers, operated by the US targeted a compound run by al Qaeda operatives in the village of Spalaga in the Mir Ali region.
Pakistani intelligence officials put the number killed at three. No senior Taliban, al Qaeda, or allied terror group leaders have been reported killed.
This is excellent news as one of my fears was that, during the South Waziristan operation, the U.S. would back off on the UAV attacks - well, there's three al Qaeda that can now attest that this isn't the case.
I've discussed how the Pakistanis are going after the biggest threat to THEIR security...that being the Taliban in South Waziristan while much of the threat to U.S. and NATO troops in Afghanistan are in North Waziristan. This is why these drone attacks are so important. And at the same time, I am not convinced that if the Pakistani military is successful in South Waziristan that they will not take a look at the Taliban and al Qaeda in the northern province. Let's hope they do.
US airstrike targets al Qaeda in North Waziristan
US aircraft have struck at al Qaeda in Pakistan's lawless, Taliban-controlled tribal agency of North Waziristan.
Unmanned aircraft, likely Predators or Reapers, operated by the US targeted a compound run by al Qaeda operatives in the village of Spalaga in the Mir Ali region.
Pakistani intelligence officials put the number killed at three. No senior Taliban, al Qaeda, or allied terror group leaders have been reported killed.
An airstrike on Sept. 7 in the Mir Ali region was thought to have killed Mustafa al Jaziri, a senior military commander for al Qaeda and a member of the military shura; and Ilyas Kashmiri, the operational commander of the Harkat-ul Jihad Islami (HuJI), an al Qaeda-linked terror group that operates in Pakistan, Kashmir, India, Afghanistan.
US intelligence believes Mustafa was indeed killed in the attack while Kashmiri later surfaced in an interview with the Asia Times .
The town of Mir Ali is a known stronghold of al Qaeda leader Abu Kasha al Iraqi, an Iraqi national who is also known as Abu Akash. He has close links to the Taliban, a senior US intelligence official told The Long War Journal in January 2007. He serves as the key link between al Qaeda's Shura Majlis, or executive council, and the Taliban.
His responsibilities have expanded to assisting in facilitating al Qaeda's external operations against the West, a senior US military intelligence official told The Long War Journal in October 2008.
Today’s attack is only the second this month, and the eighth since the beginning of September. Seven of the eight strikes have taken place in North Waziristan; three have targeted Abu Kasha’s territories, and four have targeted the Haqqani Network.
The US has carried out 44 airstrikes inside Pakistan so far this year. In all of 2008, 36 strikes were carried out. Since the US ramped up cross-border attacks in 2008, 15 al Qaeda and Taliban leaders have been killed [see LWJ report, "US airstrikes alone cannot defeat al Qaeda"].
The US is considering switching from a counterinsurgency-centric strategy aimed at defeating the Taliban in Afghanistan to a counterterrorism strategy targeting al Qaeda's network in Pakistan using unmanned airstrikes and covert operations by special operations commandos [see LWJ report, "Counterterrorism at the expense of counterinsurgency will doom Afghanistan and Pakistan: US officials"].
The attack takes place as the Pakistani military is on the offensive against Hakeemullah Mehsud’s faction of the Taliban in South Waziristan. The Pakistani Army cut a deal with Hafiz Gul Bahadar in North Waziristan and Mullah Nazir in South Waziristan. The military agreed to halt attacks against the Taliban and allow them to use the roads in exchange for a Taliban promise to allow military convoys to pass and neutrality while the fighting is ongoing. It is unclear what the impact, if any, the airstrike will have on the Taliban’s views on the peace agreements.
Background on US strikes against al Qaeda and Taliban networks in northwestern Pakistan
US intelligence believes that al Qaeda has reconstituted its external operations network in Pakistan's lawless, Taliban-controlled tribal areas. This network is tasked with hitting targets in the West, India, and elsewhere. The US has struck at these external cells using unmanned Predator aircraft and other means in an effort to disrupt al Qaeda's external network and decapitate the leadership. The US also has targeted al Qaeda-linked Taliban fighters operating in Afghanistan, particularly the notorious Haqqani Network.
As of the summer 2008, al Qaeda and the Taliban operated 157 known training camps in the tribal areas and the Northwest Frontier Province. Al Qaeda has been training terrorists holding Western passports to conduct attacks, US intelligence officials have told The Long War Journal. Some of the camps are devoted to training the Taliban's military arm; some train suicide bombers for attacks in Pakistan and Afghanistan; some focus on training the various Kashmiri terror groups; some train al Qaeda operatives for attacks in the West; some train the Lashkar al Zil, al Qaeda's Shadow Army; and one serves as a training ground for the Black Guard, the elite bodyguard unit for Osama bin Laden, Ayman al Zawahiri, and other senior al Qaeda leaders.
There were 36 recorded cross-border attacks and attempts in Pakistan during 2008, according to numbers compiled by The Long War Journal. Twenty-nine of those attacks took place after Aug. 31. From 2004 through 2007, there were only 10 recorded strikes.
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