US drone strikes kill 15 in northwest Pakistan

[The Northerner]

ISLAMABAD: US drone aircraft struck twice in Pakistan's unruly tribal regions along the border with Afghanistan on Tuesday, killing 15 suspected militants, including two senior militant commanders, security and intelligence officials said.

In the first strike, a drone fired missiles at a vehicle in the Birmal area of the South Waziristan tribal region, killing eight.

Among the dead were Shams Ullah and Amir Hamza, senior commanders of a pro-government militant faction led by Maulvi Nazir, one of the most influential militant leaders in the region.

Seven suspected militants were killed in the second attack later in the day, when a drone fired missiles at a vehicle in the Sara Khawra area, which straddles the border between North Waziristan and South Waziristan.

Read more: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/pakistan/US-drone-strikes-kill-15-in-northwest-Pakistan/articleshow/12251569.cms

[sad sally]

1. Drone strikes have been very successful lately - of course, no unintended targets were killed

Published: March. 12, 2012 at 8:09 AM


SANAA, Yemen, March 12 (UPI) -- U.S. drone strikes on hideouts and arms reserves killed at least 64 suspected al-Qaida militants over three days, Yemeni officials said.

"The United States did not inform us on the attacks. We only knew about this after the U.S. attacked," a member of Yemen's military committee told CNN.

Officials at U.S. Central Command and the Pentagon contacted Sunday declined to provide information about the attacks Yemeni officials said were carried out by unmanned U.S. aircraft, CNN reported Monday.

The U.S. government typically doesn't comment on drone operations.

Read more: http://www.upi.com/Top_News/World-News/2012/03/12/Yemen-says-US-strikes-kill-64-insurgents/UPI-59311331554198/#ixzz1p1BJ1hRU

The "interesting" part of this story is that US leadership has declined to comment on any of the strikes, and has been largely silent on Yemen since early this month when they confirmed that US ground troops were attacked in Aden, an odd confirmation since the US had never announced sending ground troops to Yemen.

[msongs]

2. serial killers at work - no trials, no convictions, just executions on demand nt

[gratuitous]

3. The region is unruly!

And tribal! Isn't that good enough for you?