Just the other day I blogged about the very long lull in U.S. predator drone strikes in Pakistan since the strike that took out nearly 40 including Pakistani tribesmen....well, the lull is over! This morning, U.S. drones hit South Waziristan, specifically a vehicle carrying Taliban and killed six.
From the report at DAWN:
US drones fired four missiles into a vehicle in Pakistan’s lawless tribal belt on the Afghan border, killing six suspected militants on Wednesday, Pakistani security officials said.
It was the first drone strike reported in Pakistan since March 17, when 39 people, including civilians, died in an attack that further shook the fragile alliance between Pakistan and the United States in the war on militants.
“It was a US drone attack. Four missiles were fired. The target was a vehicle. Several militants were killed. The death toll is six,” one Pakistani military official told AFP on condition of anonymity.
Another Pakistani security official confirmed the same details of the attack near the small town of Angoor Adda in South Waziristan district, around six kilometres from the border with Afghanistan.
This could very well be the U.S. testing the waters a little bit with the Pakistani government...if this goes relatively unnoticed, then we are back in business but there's a chance there will be more condemnations and then I'd expect we are in for another lull. The article mentions the meetings between U.S. and Pakistani intelligence officials...I'm just not sure that this strike would come that quickly even if that meeting was productive.
The sad part of all of this is that North Waziristan is chocked full of hundreds of viable targets right now and time's afleeting. Hopefully, the Pakistanis will see six men who wanted the destruction of their country are now dead and gone.
Six killed in first drone strike after spy chief meeting
PESHAWAR: US drones fired four missiles into a vehicle in Pakistan’s lawless tribal belt on the Afghan border, killing six suspected militants on Wednesday, Pakistani security officials said.
It was the first drone strike reported in Pakistan since March 17, when 39 people, including civilians, died in an attack that further shook the fragile alliance between Pakistan and the United States in the war on militants.
“It was a US drone attack. Four missiles were fired. The target was a vehicle. Several militants were killed. The death toll is six,” one Pakistani military official told AFP on condition of anonymity.
Another Pakistani security official confirmed the same details of the attack near the small town of Angoor Adda in South Waziristan district, around six kilometres from the border with Afghanistan.
The latest attack came days after Pakistan’s spy chief Gen. Ahmed Shuja Pasha met with his US counterpart in the United States to discuss how to improve cooperation and coordination in the war on terror.
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