(Previous Incident Code: Ob1 )

The first fatal Obama strike killed between seven and fifteen people, reported initially as ‘foreign militants’. In a later report personally given to Obama by his then-CIA chief General Hayden, the Agency admitted missing its high value target and killing ‘five al Qaeda militants’, but made no mention of civilian deaths.

A variety of sources reported that as many as 22 people were killed, however this is ambiguity in these figures as they state the raids occurred in Pakistan, not specifying the location.

However Newsweek reported in May 2012 that the President was made aware that civilians had died almost immediately, “Obama was understandably disturbed. How could this have happened? The president had vowed to change America’s message to the Muslim world, and to forge a “new partnership based on mutual respect and mutual interest.” Yet here he was, during his first week in the White House, presiding over the accidental killing of innocent Muslims. As Obama briskly walked into the Situation Room the following day, his advisers could feel the tension rise. “You could tell from his body language that he was not a happy man,” recalled one participant.”

Islamabad was also aware of civilian casualties. Internal data kept by the Federally Administered Tribal Agency authorities and released by the Bureau in July 2013 recorded nine civilians killed in this attack.

Dawn reported that “four Arab militants and another four from Punjab were among the dead. Soon after the attack at around 5.10pm, Taliban militants surrounded the area and stopped locals from coming near the destroyed compound. They retrieved the bodies of their comrades from the rubble and took them to an unspecified place. Villagers claimed that at least nine bodies had been pulled out of the rubble.”

The house of Khalil Khan Dawar was destroyed, and up to 15 people died. Up to eleven civilians, mostly of one family and including one child, reportedly died. Another boy survived with terrible injuries, as Der Spiegel reported at the time: ’14-year-old Fahim Qureshi, lost his left eye, suffered a fractured skull and was hit by several shards in the stomach.’

In February 2012 Pakistan lawyer Mirza Shahzad Akbar filed a case with the UN Human Rights Council citing this attack amongst others:

“Ejaz Ahmad is a resident of Hasu Khel, North Wazir Ali, North Waziristan, Pakistan. On Friday, January 23, 2009, he was in the village of Hasu Khel. 3-4 kilometers away, in the village of Zeraki, his cousin, Faheem Qureshi, and a number of his other relatives were gathered at the house of Mohammad Khaleel [Khan Dawar], a retired school teacher. Also present were Khaleel’s son and Qureshi’s 8th grade classmate [14-year old] Azaz-ur-Rehman; Mansoor-ur-Rehman, a teacher at the boys’ school in Zeraki; and Kushdil Khan, Ahmad’s maternal uncle who owned a hardware store in Meer Ali. In addition, Ubaid Ullah, Rafiq Ullah, and Safat Ullah were also present [described elsewhere as farmers].”

At around 5 PM that day, a missile struck the house, reducing it to rubble and killing everyone inside except Faheem Qureshi. Qureshi suffered the loss of an eye, and was struck in the stomach by shrapnel, requiring a major operation. He also suffered a skull fracture and damage to his ear drum, resulting in the loss of hearing in one ear. Upon hearing the blast from his nearby village Hasu Khel, Ahmad immediately went to the scene of the strike. He found only the bodies of those listed above. There were no foreign nationals at the house and none of his relatives had any connection to terrorism or terrorist activity; they were innocent villagers.

In 2012, researchers from Stanford/NYU interviewed Faheem Qureshi and his cousin Ejaz Ahmad, who saw the strike the next day. They described Khalil as a father of nine, Mansoor-ur-Rehman was a father of five and ‘a former driver who had worked in the United Arab Emirates’. Ubaid Ullah, Rafiq Ullan and Safat Ullah were Khalil’s neighbours, they added, and Azaz-ur-Rehman was 21 years old. Women and children were also in ‘a nearby space, separate from the men’, Ejaz said.

The Bureau’s researchers added a further four named people identified as civilians and reportedly killed in the strike: ‘Shams, Noor, Majid, and Siraj. They belonged to the Dawar tribe. Siraj was the nephew of former Member of Parliament, Maulana Muhammad Deendar, from North Waziristan. He belonged to the religious party, JUI-F.’

Many hundreds later attended the funerals of those killed.