As the article from The Long War Journal states, this grouping of four separate strikes by U.S. predator drones in North Waziristan's town of Lataka could very well yield a HUGELY significant leader type of either the Taliban or al Qaeda. Let me just lay out the strikes for you - the drones first hit a Taliban compound...then they hit two vehicles, one after the other...and then, just to be sure....the drones came back to the original compound site and offed 4 more bad guys who were trying to find life from the first strike. You gotta love it, huh?
From the article:
I really do think this set of strikes is gonna yield some paydirt - I mean, 11 dead Taliban/al Qaeda is good enough as it is but this is going to get us a big name...I'm convinced of it. I have yet to see our drones take out a vehicle in North Waziristan that did NOT have either a Taliban or al Qaeda leader in it. And we got two vehicles here.
I'm licking my chops just waiting for the good news that is sure to come over the next week on who exactly is no longer walking this earth.
From the article:
US Predators killed 11 "militants" in a series Predator strikes today in Pakistan's Taliban-controlled tribal agency of North Waziristan.
The unmanned Predators or more deadly Reapers fired missiles at a compound and vehicles in the town of Lataka in the Datta Khel area of North Waziristan, The Associated Press reported. The Predators first fired on a compound, killing four "militants". Two vehicles were then fired on, killing five more terrorists, including two "foreigners," a term used to describe Arab or Central Asian al Qaeda fighters. The Predators then struck the compound as Taliban fighters attempted to recover bodies from the rubble, killing four more militants.
No senior al Qaeda or Taliban operatives have been reported killed in the strike. But the nature of the strike - multiple targets being hit in the same town, including a follow up attack on the compound - indicates a high-value target was the focus. US intelligence officials contacted by The Long War Journal would not comment on the target of the strike.
The Datta Khel area is administered by Hafiz Gul Bahadar, the Taliban commander for North Waziristan. Bahadar provides shelter to top al Qaeda leaders as well as terrorists from numerous Pakistani and Central Asian terror groups.
I really do think this set of strikes is gonna yield some paydirt - I mean, 11 dead Taliban/al Qaeda is good enough as it is but this is going to get us a big name...I'm convinced of it. I have yet to see our drones take out a vehicle in North Waziristan that did NOT have either a Taliban or al Qaeda leader in it. And we got two vehicles here.
I'm licking my chops just waiting for the good news that is sure to come over the next week on who exactly is no longer walking this earth.
US Predators kill 11 'militants' in al Qaeda hub in of Datta Khel
US Predators killed 11 "militants" in a series Predator strikes today in Pakistan's Taliban-controlled tribal agency of North Waziristan.
The unmanned Predators or more deadly Reapers fired missiles at a compound and vehicles in the town of Lataka in the Datta Khel area of North Waziristan, The Associated Press reported. The Predators first fired on a compound, killing four "militants". Two vehicles were then fired on, killing five more terrorists, including two "foreigners," a term used to describe Arab or Central Asian al Qaeda fighters. The Predators then struck the compound as Taliban fighters attempted to recover bodies from the rubble, killing four more militants.
No senior al Qaeda or Taliban operatives have been reported killed in the strike. But the nature of the strike - multiple targets being hit in the same town, including a follow up attack on the compound - indicates a high-value target was the focus. US intelligence officials contacted by The Long War Journal would not comment on the target of the strike.
The Datta Khel area is administered by Hafiz Gul Bahadar, the Taliban commander for North Waziristan. Bahadar provides shelter to top al Qaeda leaders as well as terrorists from numerous Pakistani and Central Asian terror groups.
Datta Khel is an al Qaeda stronghold
Datta Khel serves as a command and control center for al Qaeda's top leaders. Several of al Qaeda's top commanders, including Mustafa Abu Yazid, the chief financial official and commander in Afghanistan, and Abdullah Said al Libi, the commander of al Qaeda's military, have been killed in Predator strikes in Datta Khel in the last year. [For more information on al Qaeda's presence in Datta Khel, see LWJ report, Latest US Predator strike kills 5 in al Qaeda hub in North Waziristan.]
The US has pounded the Datta Khel area of North Waziristan this year; 23 of the this year's 85 strikes have hit targets in Datta Khel.
Today's strike takes place as the US is seeking to disrupt a plot by al Qaeda modeled after the Mumbai terror assault. Al Qaeda operatives have been planning to carry out a terror assault targeting several major European cities. The plot is said to have been ordered by Osama bin Laden.
The US has been pounding targets in the Datta Khel, Miramshah, and Mir Ali areas of North Waziristan in an effort to kill members involved in the European plot. Al Qaeda and allied terror groups such as the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan, the Islamic Jihad Group, the Eastern Turkistan Islamic Party, Jaish-e-Mohammed, Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, and a host of Pakistani and Central and South Asian terror groups host or share camps in the region.
Despite the known presence of al Qaeda and other foreign groups in North Waziristan, and requests by the US that action be taken against these groups, the Pakistani military has indicated that it has no plans to take on Hafiz Gul Bahadar, the Haqqani Network, and Mullah Nazir. The Haqqanis, Bahadar, and Nazir, despite for their support for al Qaeda and other terror groups, are considered "good Taliban" by the Pakistani military establishment as they do not carry out attacks inside Pakistan.
The Predator strikes, by the numbers
The pace of the strikes since the beginning of September is unprecedented since the US began the air campaign in Pakistan in 2004. The 21 strikes in September is a record number, and with 10 strikes already in October, the US appears to be prepared to match last month's pace. The previous high was 11 strikes in January 2010, after the Taliban and al Qaeda executed a successful suicide attack at Combat Outpost Chapman that targeted CIA personnel who were active in gathering intelligence for the Predator campaign in Pakistan. In the bombing at COP Chapman, seven CIA officials and a Jordanian intelligence officer were killed.
The US has carried out 85 attacks inside Pakistan this year, which is more than double the number of strikes in Pakistan just two years ago. The US exceeded last year's strike total of 53 with a strike in Kurram in late August. In 2008, the US carried out 36 strikes inside Pakistan. [For up-to-date charts on the US air campaign in Pakistan, see LWJ Special Report, Charting the data for US airstrikes in Pakistan, 2004 - 2010.]
All but nine of this year's 85 strikes have taken place in North Waziristan. Of the nine strikes that have occurred outside of North Waziristan, seven took place in South Waziristan, one occurred in Khyber, and one took place in Kurram.
The US campaign in northwestern Pakistan has targeted top al Qaeda leaders, al Qaeda's external operations network, and Taliban leaders and fighters who threaten both the Afghan and Pakistani states as well as support al Qaeda's external operations. [For a list of al Qaeda and Taliban leaders killed in the US air campaign in Pakistan, see LWJ Special Report, Senior al Qaeda and Taliban leaders killed in US airstrikes in Pakistan, 2004 - 2010.]
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