(Previous Incident Code: Ob348 )

The seventh of the recent spate of US drone strikes in a week reportedly killed at least four including a senior al Qaeda members and alleged Afghan Taliban fighters.

The attack reportedly hit around noon, flattening the targeted house with two missiles. The strike targeted militants fleeing the ongoing Pakistan military offensive, according to the Express Tribune. The area targeted was said to be dominated by tribesmen from Kokikhel, sub-clan of Afridi tribe.

One of the dead was named as Sheikh Imran Ali Siddiqu, (aka Haji Shaikh Waliullah) a senior figure in the newly created al Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent (AQIS). A spokesperson for AQIS confirmed Siddiqu was killed in the strike.

The spokesman said Siddiqu had spent eight years in jail for his part in attacks on the US consulate in Karachi. The spokesman added: “[Siddiqu] has been engaged in jihad since 1990. The mujahideen brethren were present atop a mountain when the drones rained missiles, martyring them at the scene.”

There was some dispute over the precise location of the strike. One report, citing “official sources,” said the strike hit a village “right on the [Afghan-Pakistan border] but the area which was targeted falls under the Afghan jurisdiction”.

The distribution of drone strikes demonstrated “the US intelligence agency and Pakistani security forces [were] once again cooperating on defeating the insurgents,” according to McClatchy news agency. The CIA drone strikes were followed by Pakistan Air Force jets reportedly killed 21 people in a series of airstrikes in North Waziristan and Khyber the next day.