(Previous Incident Code: Ob29 )

The CIA fatally wounded TTP leader Baitullah Mehsud (and his second wife) after multiple previous attempts. President Obama personally authorised the attack (CNN). As many as ten others also may have died, including his uncle, father-in-law Maulvi Ikramuddin and mother-in-law, and seven bodyguards. Four children were also injured. According to drone strike data collected by the FATA administration, Ikramuddin (aka ‘Lala’ Shabi Khel Mehsud) was the home owner. The data showed only an unnamed woman died in the strike.

According to Joby Warrick (The Triple Agent) the initial CIA summary sent to Leon Panetta at the White House made no mention of other casualties: ‘Two confirmed dead, no other deaths or serious injuries. Building still stands.’ Warrick told the Bureau that US officials continue to insist that only two died in the attack. The New Yorker later disclosed the existence of a CIA video of the strike, quoting a ‘senior security official’ who had seen the film: ‘ He was clearly visible with his wife…His torso remained, while half of the body was blown up.’

In May 2012 the New York Times reported that President Obama personally authorised the strike, knowing that civilians may have been present:

Mr. Obama, through Mr. Brennan [his senior counter-terrorism adviser], told the C.I.A. to take the shot, and Mr. Mehsud was killed, along with his wife and, by some reports, other family members as well, said a senior intelligence official.