Bingo! U.S. Predator Drone Turn 5 Haqqani Network Jihadis Into Goo

Two days in a row, baby! A second predator drone airstrike just two days has hit a known Haqqani network area in North Waziristan and left 5 of their jihadis in pieces. Literally, in pieces.

From the report at DAWN:

A US drone strike on Monday killed five militants in Pakistan's northwestern tribal belt near the Afghan border, security officials said.

The strike hit the Dandey Darpa Khel area, about five kilometres (three miles) from Miranshah, the main town in North Waziristan district, a known hub for Taliban and Al-Qaeda linked militants.

The area is also famous as stronghold of the Al-Qaeda-linked Haqqani network, known for staging attacks on US and Nato troops fighting in Afghanistan.

“The US drone fired three missiles and hit a house used by militants. Five militants have been killed,” A senior security official in Peshawar told AFP.

An intelligence official in Miranshah also confirmed the attack and the toll. The Monday attack is the second in three days, following a similar strike in North Waziristan on Saturday which killed four militants, the official said.

Now, I'm gonna go out on a limb here - I think we got someone significant in this strike. Here's why I say that - first of all, it's Monday ... the jihadis in Pakistan don't expect predator drone strikes on a Monday lately...it's been a weekend thing for quite awhile. Secondly, there were THREE hellfires fired into this one compound/target...to me that means we REALLY wanted whoever was in there, really dead. And finally, the Haqqani network is closely affiliated with al Qaeda - it's my guess we had intel that there was an al Qaeda higher up in this building.

Let's hope so. A good way to start the week off, anyway...with a strike on Sunday and another the next day on Monday. Yup, I'm in a good mood.

US drone strike kills five militants in North Waziristan


MIRANSHAH: A US drone strike on Monday killed five militants in Pakistan's northwestern tribal belt near the Afghan border, security officials said.

The strike hit the Dandey Darpa Khel area, about five kilometres (three miles) from Miranshah, the main town in North Waziristan district, a known hub for Taliban and Al-Qaeda linked militants.

The area is also famous as stronghold of the Al-Qaeda-linked Haqqani network, known for staging attacks on US and Nato troops fighting in Afghanistan.

“The US drone fired three missiles and hit a house used by militants. Five militants have been killed,” A senior security official in Peshawar told AFP.

An intelligence official in Miranshah also confirmed the attack and the toll. The Monday attack is the second in three days, following a similar strike in North Waziristan on Saturday which killed four militants, the official said.

On Monday, the missiles targeted a compound used by militants in Kutabkhel village, some three kilometres south of Miranshah.

The nationalities of the militants killed in the Monday attack were not immediately clear, but intelligence officials in the area said most of those killed were Afghans.

Residents in Miranshah said militants linked to the Haqqani network were using the house as a training camp.
The missile attack also badly damaged a nearby house, injuring 13 people including civilian women and children, an intelligence official in Miranshah said.

US forces have been waging a drone war against Taliban and Al-Qaeda-linked commanders in Pakistan's northwestern tribal belt, where militants have carved out havens in mountains outside direct government control.

Washington has branded the rugged tribal area on the Afghan border, part of which has now been hit by Pakistan's catastrophic flooding, a global headquarters of Al-Qaeda and the most dangerous place on Earth.

The US military does not as a rule confirm drone attacks, but its armed forces and the Central Intelligence Agency operating in Afghanistan are the only forces that deploy pilotless drones in the region. -AFP