(Previous Incident Code: Ob366 )

CIA drones reportedly destroyed a residential compound in the Shawal area hours after the Pakistan government condemned the last drone strike in that area. At least three and as many as six people were killed.

The drones hit at night in the same region as an attack on May 16 that Ministry of Foreign Affairs condemned on May 18, saying such strikes “generate distrust among the local populace”. It repeated this statement after this strike.

The Shawal area crosses the North and South Waziristan and Pakistan and Afghanistan borders. Its forested valleys reportedly host several armed groups and has been targeted by seven strikes so far this year.

The Pakistan military was reportedly preparing to send troops into the Shawal, 11 months after the army began operation Zarb e Azb – its ongoing military operation in North Waziristan. However the scale and progress of the army’s reported push into the Shawal were unclear, Reuters reported. The area however was off limits to journalists with roads blocked and telephone cables cut.

It emerged after this strike that Turkish national Burak Karlier (above) was killed in a US drone strike in Waziristan in May. Terrorist propaganda said he was killed on May 24 in Waziristan. This was the closest strike to that date. Karlier, 29, was from Konya in southern Turkey. His euology said he fought with al Qaeda in Afghanistan against the US having fought in the Chechen war against Russia.