(Previous Incident Code: Ob311 )

At least four were killed in Hesso Khel, the second strike on the village in three days. A house was destroyed in the strike. According to AFP two missiles destroyed the house and two further missiles hit a nearby motorcycle. Four people died in the house and two on the motorbike, the agency added. None of the casualties were identified.

‘Six drones were in the sky at the time of the attack,’ a security official said, adding, “The compound was completely destroyed, bodies of all those killed were badly mutilated.” A witness reported militants were seen collecting the burnt bodies.

The area is reportedly dominated by militant Hafiz Gul Bahadur, “who is believed to be in a nonaggression pact with the Pakistani military.” CIA drones have struck the village at least six times since 2004. Although this was the sixth strike in 10 days, the Pakistani government remained noticeably quiet, according to Associated Press. Throughout 2012 drone strikes were met with loud condemnation from Islamabad. The Pakistani government called in the US Chargé d’Affaire to officially complain in June. And senior Pakistani diplomats told the Bureau the strikes were illegal and were undermining Pakistani democracy.

Religious hardliners were also silent, Associated Press reported, adding, “It’s unclear whether the current uptick has been caused by particularly valuable intelligence obtained by the CIA, or whether the warming of relations between the two countries has made strikes less sensitive.”