The Motherload of Drone Strikes: U.S. UAV Strike In North Waziristan Kills 12 Taliban, Rumors Fly That Top Leader Is One Of Those In The Virgin Hunt

As most of you know, I make it a practice here at Holger Awakens to report most every predator drone strike that the U.S. carries out in Pakistan and Afghanistan - not only do I do it to help us all celebrate dead Taliban and al Qaeda but to highlight one of the most effective war tactics we currently have against the psyche of the terrorists. And most often we see here strikes that cap from 2 - 5 jihadis, but today, we get to see that rare occasion when a predator drone hit a motherload of Taliban, all nicely rounded up into one compound. 12 dead Taliban is the latest report .....yes!

From the report at Breitbart:

U.S. missiles killed at least 12 alleged militants Thursday in a compound formerly used as a religious school in Pakistan's North Waziristan tribal region, officials said, the eighth such attack in two weeks.

Nearly all the attacks in recent months have focused on North Waziristan, a segment of Pakistan's semiautonomous tribal belt where militant networks focused on battling the U.S. and NATO in Afghanistan are based. Some of those militants are believed to have been involved in a late December attack that killed seven CIA employees in eastern Afghanistan.

At least two missiles hit the Pasalkot area of North Waziristan around 7 a.m., landing in a sprawling compound that has been used as a religious school in the past. The identities of the dead were not immediately known, an army official and an intelligence official said.

Now, it's important to stress the RUMOR quality of this part of the report but hey, it's not bad to fanatize once in awhile:

Soon after the attack, local TV stations carried unsourced reports that Pakistani Taliban leader Hakimullah Mehsud may have been killed or had recently left the targeted building. A Pakistani intelligence official said these reports were being investigated, but termed them "rumors."

There's one other thing that I think is important to point out. I'm not saying that the CIA is a vengeful bunch but the hard truth is that the CIA took one serious hit in that attack in Afghanistan that killed a bunch of their operatives and even a senior official - and of course, the CIA has had to watch story after story come out about how it was "duped" by the Jordanian double or triple agent. I gotta believe that there is a certain element of the CIA that is extremely pissed off and I don't find it coincidental, at all, that soon after the Afghan suicide attack on their comrades, the CIA comes up with one of it's biggest Taliban strikes in months. I gotta admit, if I'm in the CIA, at the moment, I'm going to be 100% behind every possible attack at this point as retribution. Call it a "vengeance campaign." And the fact of the matter is that Taliban leaders in North Waziristan are one nervous ass bunch right now.

Officials: US missiles kill 12 in Pakistan

ISLAMABAD (AP) - U.S. missiles killed at least 12 alleged militants Thursday in a compound formerly used as a religious school in Pakistan's North Waziristan tribal region, officials said, the eighth such attack in two weeks.
Soon after the attack, local TV stations carried unsourced reports that Pakistani Taliban leader Hakimullah Mehsud may have been killed or had recently left the targeted building. A Pakistani intelligence official said these reports were being investigated, but termed them "rumors."

The strike illustrated the Obama administration's unwillingness to abandon its missile campaign against insurgent targets along Pakistan's northwest border with Afghanistan. Despite Pakistani protest, the attacks have surged in number in recent days.
Nearly all the attacks in recent months have focused on North Waziristan, a segment of Pakistan's semiautonomous tribal belt where militant networks focused on battling the U.S. and NATO in Afghanistan are based. Some of those militants are believed to have been involved in a late December attack that killed seven CIA employees in eastern Afghanistan.
It's a region that the Pakistani military has been wary of treading, partly because groups based there have not directly threatened the Pakistani state. The army has struck truces with some of them to keep them out of its battle against the Pakistani Taliban—who have attacked Pakistan in numerous ways—in neighboring South Waziristan.
At least two missiles hit the Pasalkot area of North Waziristan around 7 a.m., landing in a sprawling compound that has been used as a religious school in the past. The identities of the dead were not immediately known, an army official and an intelligence official said.
The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to media on the record.
The strike came as Richard Holbrooke, a U.S. special envoy to Pakistan and Afghanistan, was visiting parts of Pakistan.
The U.S. rarely discusses the covert missile campaign, though in the past American officials have lauded it as a successful tactic that has killed several top al-Qaida operatives as well as Pakistani Taliban chief Baitullah Mehsud.
Pakistan formally protests the drone-fired strikes, saying they violate its sovereignty and spur more anti-American sentiment among the population, but many analysts believe the nuclear-armed South Asian nation secretly aids the campaign.
During a Wednesday media conference with Holbrooke, Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi stopped short of completely ruling out the missile attacks, but said there were certain "red lines" that Washington must not cross.
"Pakistan feels that it would undermine our relationship if there is expansion of drones and if there are (U.S.) operations on the ground," Qureshi said.