(Previous Incident Code: Ob33 )

Senior al Qaeda leader Ilyas Kashmiri was ‘killed’ (he also reportedly ‘died’ in May 2011 before actually dying in a US strike on June 3 2011) along with up to five alleged militants. The attack reportedly struck a vehicle as it entered the village. But a nearby home was caught up in the blast, with three members of a family killed in the evening attack.

Survivor 15-year old Sadaullah Wazir, who lost both legs and an eye in the strike, later launched a lawsuit against the CIA. His wheelchair-bound uncle Mautullah Jan and his two cousins Sabir-ud-Din and Kadanullah Jan were killed. Ajman Ullah was also among the injured. In a case later placed before the UN Human Rights Council it was reported:

On September 7, 2009, the villagers of Machi Khel observed two drones hovering overhead throughout the day. This prompted fear and anger amongst the villagers, who viewed the drones’ presence as a threat, and interference with their religious observations of the holy month of Ramadan. In the evening, Sadaullah and his family, including grandfathers, uncles, and cousins, gathered at his grandfather’s house to celebrate the breaking of their fast. Upon the ritual breaking of the fast, the family stepped outside into the courtyard to offer Maghrib, or evening, prayer. Sadaullah joined the prayer late, as he had been serving the guests. As the family members finished their prayers, they returned into the main room of the house. Sadaullah and his elder cousin Ajman Ullah were the last to finish their prayers.
As they were about to re-enter the house from the courtyard, the two drones fired their missiles at the building. Sadaullah was hit by debris falling from the roof and knocked unconscious. He awoke in a hospital in Peshawar. Both his legs had been amputated, and had lost the use of one eye due to flying shrapnel. A number of his family members had been killed in the blasts: Mautullah Jan, uncle, had been in a wheelchair for the last decade; Kadaanullah Jan, cousin; Sabir-ud-Din, cousin. Ajman Ullah had also been hospitalized and severely injured, though not fatally. None of the victims were involved in any terrorist activity or with any terrorist organizations, they were innocent villagers.