(Previous Incident Code: Ob284 )

Up to 14 people were killed in the first known US drone strike in 17 days. An unknown number of CIA drones struck at 9.20pm, firing up to eight missiles into a housing compound alleged to belong to Sadiq Noor, a militant commander and ally of Hafiz Gul Bahadur. It was not clear if Noor was among the dead although Abdur Rauf, son of Abdul Karim who was described as a militant, was later buried in Dhoda village.  After the attack ‘more than five US drones kept flying  over the area, hampering the rescue work.’ This was the second strike of the month to hit the village of Dre Nishter. The News was the only initial report to report that civilians may have been among those killed – and that rescuers may have died in a follow-up strike:

Some reports said the drones first fired two missiles and hit a house in the valley and when other people gathered for rescue efforts almost half-an-hour later, the drones started firing missiles on them, killing most the rescuers. There was, however, no independent confirmation of this piece of information. About the victims, there were conflicting reports with some saying they included militants while tribal sources insisted all of them were local residents.

In August 2013 the Bureau conducted field research into reported follow-up strikes. Investigators reported a drone targeted a small house killing five militants from Punjab and injuring three. About 20 minutes later other Punjabis to rescue the wounded. A Taliban commander in the Shawal valley told the Bureau’s investigator: ‘Some of them said they should not go there for the rescue work because drones were still flying over the area, but others told them if they had to wait for the drones to disappear it would take hours and the injured would die of their injuries.’ Drones then fired two more missiles killing seven more people and injuring eight others. ‘Instead of saving the injured of the first attack, they lost their own lives. All of them belonged to the Punjab but were laid to rest the next day in Shawal. One of the rescuers left behind a widow and four children – three daughters and a son,’ the Taliban commander said.

An October 2013 field investigation by Amnesty International also found this was a follow-up strike. However Amnesty’s data, compiled by multiple interviews with survivors and witnesses, shows slightly different casualty data. The report says five Taliban from the Maulvi Ihsanullah group, part of the Afghan Taliban-allied Haqqani Network, were killed in the first strike and six civilian rescuers died in the second attack.