(Previous Incident Code: Ob196 )

A US drone reportedly carried out a double strike on a vehicle (and possibly a house) in Khesoor, north Waziristan, killing up to 12 people, including civilian rescuers, local and international media reported.

The Pakistan Observer reported at the time: “In [the] first attack a US drone struck a suspected vehicle with at least two hellfire missiles killing three people on board and wounded many others as the vehicle was also destroyed completely. Sources said adding as the rescue operation was in progress and the people retrieving the dead bodies from the targeted vehicle, the American planes struck again after a pause of ten minutes leaving another three people dead.”

Overall, the death toll spanned from at least four to as many as 12, including at least two and as many as five civilians.

Some locals reported that civilians were among the dead, for example Dawn which noted “When local people rushed towards the burning vehicle to remove bodies and help the injured, the unmanned plane fired two missiles,” reporting two civilian casualties out of the total of ten killed.

As part of its investigation into the CIA’s deliberate targeting of rescuers, the Bureau of Investigative Journalism’s (TBIJ) own researchers in Waziristan reported that five Taliban and five civilian rescuers were killed in the attack, all five civilians identified by name, listed below.

However, an internal record of CIA drone strikes, published by TBIJ in January 2014, reported only four people were killed in this attack – all of them locals.

Moreover, “many” people, civilians or militants, were reported injured.

All known sources attributed the strike to a US drone.