(Previous Incident Code: B51 )

In the final strike of George W. Bush’s presidency, two missiles hit the abandoned ‘Government Girls Primary School, Sultana Tehsil Ladha’ (reportedly a TTP base), killing between three and four people and inuring three others, according to local media.

SATP reported that the victims were militants. Geo TV however reported they were people, not specifying whether they were militants or civilians. Long War Journal reported that “four Taliban fighters occupying the abandoned school have been reported killed in the early morning strike. No senior Taliban or al Qaeda leaders have been reported killed.”

Three to five people – allegedly ‘Punjabi militants’ – were reported injured and taken for local treatment.

Dawn reported that “the injured were local tribesmen who were taken to the Arif Health Centre in Makeen.”

The strike killed al Qaeda operational chief Usama al-Kini and his lieutenant Sheikh Ahmed Salim Swedan, both linked to the 1998 US African embassy bombings. Two other unknown people also died.

Then-CIA Director General Michael Hayden personally ordered the attack, demanding that the drone’s operators use a bunker-busting bomb to ensure a kill.

At the command, the Predator’s flight crew… switched on a far larger weapon hidden inside the bomb cavity, a 500lb laser-guided GBU-12 Paveway (Joby Warrick’s The Triple Agent).

For more on those killed in the drone strike see the Naming the Dead Project.