(Previous Incident Code: Ob283 )

As many as 24 people were killed in a triple evening strike on a house in Datta Khel. The dead were said to include ‘foreigners’, with Al Jazeera reporting at the time of the attack:

The initial strike on a house killed nine, three others were killed in a second attack when they drove to the site to recover dead bodies, and a third drone killed another three five minutes later, a senior security official in Peshawar told the AFP news agency’.
Zowi Sidgi cemetery (Picture copyright Amnesty International)

Dawn also reported that three rescuers were killed, whom it described as ‘tribesmen’, adding: ‘Other sources said most of the dead were militants.’ Some reported that those killed were linked to local militant leader Hafiz Gul Bahadur. The New York Times reported a local resident as saying that ‘the compound was owned by a Taliban commander named Rahimullah.’ However in August 2012 Time magazine quoted a US official as saying the strike was actually on ‘a truck packed with explosives heading across the border.’

It was a clear shot. We had to take it.

The official also said that the number killed was less than 20. But a field investigation by the Bureau in August 2013 showed the strike hit a house and killed a group of men eating dinner at about 7.40pm. A group of men saying evening prayers near by were not targeted, according to the Bureau’s field researchers reported. After 30 minutes men went to search for survivors. A follow-up strike hit 20 after the rescuers began their work. Twelve more people, including two Arabs, four Wazir tribesmen and six Dawar tribesmen were killed. Five others sustained serious injuries – a senior doctor managing the casualty department in Miranshah said the wounded suffered multiple burn injuries and required specialised treatment and plastic surgery.

Independently of the Bureau, legal charity Reprieve also carried out a field investigation into the two reported strikes on rescuers in July 2012 (see Ob282). Based on eyewitness reports, Reprieve named eight civilians it said were killed in this strike: Salay Khan; Mir Jahan Gul; Allah Mir Khan; Noor Bhadshah Khan; Mir Gull Jan; Batkai Jan; Gallop Haji Jan; and Gull Saeed Khan.

Zowi Sidgi cemetery (Picture copyright Amnesty International)

Amnesty International also independently investigated the strike. Through detailed interviews, the rights organisation uncovered the identities and, in most cases, occupations and ages of 18 civilians killed in this attack:

Gul Dad Khan, 21-22, married with two children, chromite miner
Kashmir Khan, 30, married with three children, chromite miner
Wolayet Khan, 25, day labourer
Saleh Khan, 14, wood seller
Shamroxz Khan, approximately 24, wood seller
Fazel Rehman, 18, chromite seller
Waliullah, 18-19, vegetable seller
Sahibdin, 18-19, vegetable seller
Mir Ajab Khan, 22, vegetable seller
Min Gul, day labourer
Bangal Khan, 28, married with four children
Dil Gir Khan, age and occupation unknown
Sahid Din, age and occupation unknown
Mir Ajat, age and occupation unknown
Haq Nawaz, 23, occupation unknown, died of his injuries on the way to a local medical dispensary that was also a makeshift clinic for the area
Hatiqullah, 18, occupation unknown, received serious shrapnel wounds to the head and died shortly after the strike
Akram, age and occupation unknown
Shoaib, age and occupation unknown

This was the first CIA strike after Pakistan re-opened its border to Nato supply convoys, ending a seven month diplomatic stand-off. The standoff ended after US Secretary of State Hilary Clinton apologised on July 3 for US forces killing 23 Pakistani soldiers in November 2011. Negotiations over the future of the drone programme continued after Clinton’s apology. Pakistan’s leaders reportedly were pushing for more control of drone strike targeting. But on July 5 the Foreign Office repeated Pakistan’s view that drone strikes are counter-productive and a violation of the country’s sovereignty. Ambassador Akbar Ahmed, Islamabad’s former High Commissioner to London, told Al Jazeera:

It can’t go against the will of the people and Pakistan is quite unanimous in rejecting the drone strikes on its territory. All the political parties, parliament and military have categorically condemned the strikes. We know that in the past there were all kinds of backdoor dealings – we are told we don’t know for sure – between Pakistan and the US which sort of winked and nudged and looked the other way while drone strikes would be conducted. Now those days have gone because the relationship between the two country is so brittle and tense. And anything smacking of backdoor dealings would really risk a reaction in the public against the government in Pakistan.’