(Previous Incident Code: Ob290 )

The CIA brought the number of attacks to seven, which were carried out in a week, when it bombarded three villages in the Shawal valley with coordinated drone strikes that left up to 22 people dead and wounded up to 14 more.

Five drones reportedly took part in the coordinated attacks, launching six missiles and ‘continued hovering over the area after the attacks’. The strikes hit villages ‘several kilometers‘ from each other with strikes that came ‘minutes apart‘.

The Long War Journal cited a US intelligence official as saying that repeated CIA strikes on the Shawal valley area had been targeting an ‘important jihadi leader.’ Across the border in Afghanistan on the same day, an airstrike also killed TTP commander Mullah Dadullah, commander of the Pakistan Taliban in Bajaur Agency.

At least six were killed in the village of Makai of Maki Ghar in a strike around 11 noon local time. Pakistani officials said the compounds were used by militants when crossing into Afghanistan. Tribal sources said the compounds belonged to local tribesmen and the dead included Punjabis and foreigners of Arab origin.

AFP said the area hit ‘is an area used by militants belonging to Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan, the Afghan Taliban allied Haqqani network and the Hafiz Gul Bahadur group.’

A Bureau researcher, citing Pakistan intelligence and Taliban sources, named those killed in the first strike as, “Four Turkistanis named as Emeti Yakuf, aka Abdul Jabar; 35-36 year old Yaku Emeti aka Saleh; Tuersun Toheti aka Zabeh ullah; and Mukhtar. Additionally two Pakistan Taliban (TTP) militants died named as Karim and Matee ullah”.

Dawn also reported that Emeti Yakuf had died, naming him as ‘Emir’ of the East Turkistan Islamic Movement (ETIM) While the Long War Journal also said Yakuf was the group’s leader, the New York Times said he was only “a senior leader”. This distinction appeared to be more than spurious when in 2015 the Long War Journal reported that Abdul Haq al Turkistani, the previous leader of ETIM, seemed to have survived a 2010 drone strike. Abdul Haq was thought dead after the February 2010 strike but it seems he was “heavily injured in 2010” and was “unable to serve [as leader] until 2014,” according to SITE, as quoted by the Long War Journal. If reports of Abdul Haq’s 2010 death prove to have been exaggerated, Yakuf may have stepped into the role in Abdul Haq’s absence.

In 2008 China issued a press release detailing the charges against several alleged terrorists. Yakuf and Tuersun were included among them. The charge sheet said Yakuf was was born on March 14, 1965, and accused of being a key member of ETIM. He was wanted for crimes including inciting followers to attack the 2008 Beijing Olympics. Tuersun was also described as a key member of the East Turkestan Movement. Born in 1975, he was wanted for terrorism offences including ‘conspiring to attack Chinese targets during the Beijing Olympics’.