(Previous Incident Code: Ob358 )

The first CIA strike of 2015 killed at least six and as many as 10 people. The dead were initially reportedly Uzbeks and members of the Pakistan Taliban (TTP) associated group loyal to veteran commander Hafiz Gul Bahadur. There were no reports of civilian harm.

However al Qaeda subsequently confirmed Qari Imran (aka Qari Ubaidullah) was killed in the strike. The strike also killed Mohammed Ashraf Dar  from Indian Kashmir. News of Dar’s death did not emerge until November 2015 when his family revealed he had featured in an al Qaeda propaganda film and had been killed in a drone strike in Pakistan.

There were early, speculative reports Bahadur may have died in the strike. His group is responsible for cross-border attacks against US and allied troops. His death, if confirmed, would be considered a major success for the CIA’s drone programme.

The strike hit in the early hours, reportedly targeting one or two houses, as well as possibly a vehicle. The strike “targeted a base of an Uzbek commander known as Usman, killing six Uzbek militants. Two militants are wounded,” a Pakistan security official told the New York Times. It was not clear if Usman was in the building at the time of the attack.

The location of the strike was unclear – it reportedly hit in either the Datta Khel area or the Shawal area of North Waziristan. The Pakistani government condemned the attack.