(Previous Incident Code: B16 )

An alleged US strike killed one person in Makeen, south Waziristan, though it was unclear among the reports whether the fatality was a militant or a civilian.

The attack was aimed at a possible hideout of Pakistan Taliban leader Baitullah Mehsud. One person was reported killed, an alleged militant according to some reports. However a document prepared by the FATA administration said the casualty in this attack was a civilian. It lists this strike as taking place on June 15 and states that three missiles were fired. This was the first known strike against the leader of Pakistan’s home-grown Taliban, the Tehreek-e-Taliban or TTP. In his book Intel Wars Matthew Aid reports:

“The CIA thought they had found the hideout of the leader of the Pakistani Taliban, Baitullah Mehsud, and told the Pakistanis they were going to hit the location with a drone strike. According to the CIA official, Mehsud mysteriously disappeared from the house shortly before three Hellfire missiles leveled it.”

Aid does not explain why Pakistani officials might assist Mehsud’s TTP, by then wreaking terrorist havoc across Pakistan.