(Previous Incident Code: Ob118 )

Four to five civilians were killed, as were six alleged Haqqani Network militants, according to local reports, by alleged US led airstrikes. An unspecified number of people were also wounded, but it is unclear whether they were civilians or militants.

An internal Pakistani report published by the Bureau in January 2014 listed five locals were killed in this attack.

The Bureau’s Waziristan researchers, following up on initial media reports of civilian deaths, reported, “Din Mohammad’s son, nephew and two daughters were killed. His son was a student of the Waziristan Cadet School in Miram Shah. The other children were below school-going age. Villagers in Danda Darpakhel insist Din Mohammad wasn’t a Taliban militant. His house was adjacent to a compound that served as hideout of the Haqqani Network fighters. Six militants in that compound were killed, but the missile strike also hit Din Mohammad’s house and killed the young children.”

A US official later challenged the Bureau’s findings, telling the New York Times that while it accepted that a nearby house was also hit, it was only aware of  injuries in the attack: “The claim of four children killed is completely unsubstantiated. A small group of militants were killed that day when the compound – where they were making a car bomb to take across the border into Afghanistan – was targeted. The explosives ignited, injuring two in a neighboring compound who were escorted from the site.”

The Bureau notes that the US itself now admits that it hit a nearby compound causing civilian casualties. Our field researchers are clear that members of Din Mohammad’s family were killed, as also reported by credible media at the time.