(Previous Incident Code: Ob174 )

The second or third of three alleged US strikes in Khyber Agency on the same day came in the wake of an attack there the previous evening (Ob171). The other two strikes are detailed in Ob172 and Ob173. The three strikes reportedly killed up to 54 people in total, making it one of the deadliest days in the US Pakistan drone program, as of 2010.

This strike, varying reported as the the second or third of the day, took place in Speen Drang, where a house was struck, killing up to 38 people, the highest reported by The Nation. Other reports put the death toll at 30 or 32.

Most sources described the killed as alleged Lashkar-e-Islam members. Three local LeI commanders were reported dead, named Ali Marjan, Yar Azam and Mehmud, while Tribune Express reported that “a wanted militant commander” named Marjan Alias Fauji also was killed along with his companions. Also, Ibne Amin, was reported killed in this strike, though sources also reported him killed in the strike the previous day, Ob171.

However, among the dead were reportedly also two civilians. The Bureau of Investigative Journalism’s researchers in Waziristan noted:

“Two non-militant civilians were also killed, but only one was a prisoner. He belonged to the Kukikhel sub-tribe of the Afridi, but he remained unidentified as his body was mutilated. The other civilian killed by the missiles was Raza Khan, a 50-year old man from the Sepah sub-tribe of the Afridi tribe who had come to the Lashkar-i-Islam headquarters in Sandana to request Commander Mangal Bagh to release one of his relatives being held by him. Another prisoner was wounded in the attack and several other prisoners escaped from the private prison, set up in a cave, due to the confusion in the aftermath of the drone strike. Almost all of them were subsequently re-arrested and their fate remains unknown.”

Moreover, human rights groups said that there were “significant numbers of civilian casualties in the attacks,” as reported by Dawn.

US officials confirmed that the strikes in Khyber Agency were carried out by US forces as officials were quoted for saying that certain targets had successfully been hit.