(Previous Incident Code: Ob30 )

At the time of this strike, press reports stated only that a house turned into a ‘militant compound’ had been hit. The house belonged to Zangi Khan Burki, who had fled the area with his family. The nearby home of agency councilor Arif Zaman was also reported damaged in the attack. Local photographer Noor Behram, who visited the site shortly afterwards, later wrote:

The media reports were saying that there was a training centre which was targeted. The locals were angered and gathered things from the house and showed pictures of the “dangerous equipment” of the training centre.’

Taliban spokesman Azam Tariq also told Associated Press: ‘Today, an American missile hit a home in South Waziristan. Only innocent civilians were living there, and six of them died.’

However, almost two years later, survivor Arshad Khan revealed that the target may have been a Taliban teenage suicide bomber training camp (a precise date is not specified, although circumstantial evidence points to this attack). Between 14 and 25 people were killed, with 5-7 injured. Among the dead were four named teenagers: Ibad Ullah, Mohammad Arif, Abdul Qadeer and Hazrat Ali. The Taliban at the time claimed only that six women and children were killed.

2009.08.11 Shoes etc Ob31 / Noor Behram