(Previous Incident Code: B39 )

Up to 11 civilians were killed in an alleged US strike in Kumsham, north Waziristan, while others reported that the strike had killed up to 16 militants. As many as 17 people were additionally reported wounded.

The attack struck a ‘training facility of Hafiz Gul Bahadar’ (in a peace deal with Pakistan’s military). A local senior government official told the Daily Times that the missiles hit a militant compound, saying “it was an accurate strike and the compound has been destroyed.” However, Geo TV described the target as a house owned by local Ghani Gul.

Locals said that between two and five missiles were struck, killing between 11 and 16 people – most reporting around 14 militant fatalities.  The New York Times said that 13 militants were killed; eight locals and five foreigners.

However, internal Pakistan data uncovered by the Bureau of Investigative Journalism showed 11 people were killed in this strike, including an unspecified number of civilians. Though no civilians were reported killed at the time, the Bureau’s Waziristan researchers later identified six they said had been killed, listed below, all of the Utmanzai Wazir tribe.

Pakistan’s president and prime minister both condemned the attack. However the CIA later told Pakistan’s President Zardari that ‘many Westerners, including some US passport holders’ died in this strike – details the CIA continues to keep secret (Obama’s Wars by Bob Woodward). According to Woodward

The CIA would not reveal the particulars due to the implications under American law. A top secret CIA map detailing the attacks had been given to the Pakistanis. Missing from it was the alarming fact about the American deaths … The CIA was not going to elaborate.’