At Least 41 Killed in Pakistan Militant Attacks
A
pair of extremely ugly militant attacks on two opposite sides of
Pakistan have left at least 41 people dead, including members of the
Frontier Corps (FC) and a convoy of Shi’ite pilgrims along the
Iranian border.
drone
The
killing for the FC members caps a recent storming of a pair of bases
around Peshawar, in which a large
number of
the soldiers were taken hostage. 21 of them were
executed according
to provincial officials. The other was critically wounded but
expected to survive.
Taliban
officials claimed credit for the FC executions, saying that their
council of clerics gave the order, and that no demands for prisoner
exchanges were considered when prisoners are caught in clashes.
The
other incident took place in the southwest, where a car bomb targeted
a bus full of Shi’ite pilgrims heading to Iran. 20 of the pilgrims
were killed and 24 others were wounded in the attack.
US Drone Strike in Pakistan Kills Five, Injures Three
The identities of the people targeted are not known, as are most of the anonymous victims of US bombs
by
John Glaser, December 29, 2012
A US
drone strike on
a house in a remote area of northwest Pakistan killed five people and
injured three others on Friday, although no information was made
public about the identities of those killed and maimed.
Sources
in the Pakistani government and local tribal sources said the drone
fired four missiles on the house, destroying it completely.
A report by
researchers at the Stanford and NYU schools of law found in
September that the drone program is “terrorizing” the people of
Pakistan and that it is having “counterproductive” effects.
The
US drone war in Pakistan not only kills and injures civilians, the
report finds, but it
traumatizes the population and
has led people to keep their children home from school and to avoid
any large grouping of people, however innocent. It also says the
drone war has helped recruitment efforts of extremist groups like
al-Qaeda.
“A
significant rethinking of current US targeted killing and drone
strike policies is long overdue. US policy-makers, and the American
public, cannot continue to ignore evidence of the civilian harm and
counter-productive impacts of US targeted killings and drone strikes
in Pakistan,” the report said.
US Drone Strike Kills Three in Yemen
Drone strikes have been increasing in Yemen, prompting a rise in local al-Qaeda membership
by
John Glaser, December 29, 2012
Three
people were killed in southern Yemen in a
US drone strike on Saturday, the
fourth such attack this week.
Yemeni
security officials speaking to the press said the three killed were
al-Qaeda militants, but – as The
Washington Post reported earlier
this week – the Yemeni government as a policy tries to conceal when
US drones kill civilians, so claiming the deceased are al-Qaeda
militants is merely an automated response.
Drone
stikes have been increasing in Yemen, prompting anger among the local
populations being subjected to the attacks and coinciding with a
marked increase in the estimated al-Qaeda membership.
“Our
entire village is angry at the government and the Americans,” a
Yemeni villager named Mohammed told the Post.
“If the Americans are responsible, I would have no choice but to
sympathize with al-Qaeda because al-Qaeda is fighting America.”
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