(Previous Incident Code: Ob191 )

After a delay of some weeks following the arrest of CIA contractor Raymond Davis, drone strikes resumed, as the US allegedly carried out a drone strike on a house in Kazha Punga area, Tehsil Birmal, south Waziristan, killing between four and eight people, possibly including civilians, and wounding two others, local and international media reported.

Reports said that between four and eight people were killed along with two wounded, though it was not clear whether they were militants or civilians, as many merely referred up to seven fatalities as “people.” The News, who put the death toll at six, for example said that “the identity of the slain people could not be ascertained, but local tribesmen claimed all of them were tribal people.”

However, several sources said that at least five militants where killed; three Turkmenistan nationals and two “Arabs”.

Moreover, a secret record of CIA drone strikes, compiled by the local political authority and published by the Bureau of Investigative Journalism in January 2014 listed eight people killed in the strike. It said three missiles were fired on a “residential house” at 2340, killing “05 Arabs and 03 Punjabis.” An Arab and Punjabi were also reportedly injured.

Al Qaeda finance officer Abu Zaid al-Iraqi aka Ali Khan was later reported to be among the dead: “Mr al Iraqi was believed to be one of several foreigners among the seven dead. He was described as being in his late 30s and going by the local name “Ali Khan.” Mr al Iraqi is believed to have shifted to South Waziristan in 2008 after time spent in Afghanistan.”

All known sources said that the US – specifically a Predator drone – was behind the strike.