(Previous Incident Code: Ob74 )

A US drone strike killed up to nine alleged militants in Miram Shah, north Waziristan and wounded between two and six others, local and international media reported.

Dawn reported that the attack took place in a built-up area, noting: “Official sources said three missiles slammed into Maly Khan Serai, a building housing shops and auto workshops, adding a government-run veterinary centre also came under attack. The town plunged into darkness after the attack, the first on a bazaar in Miramshah.”

Sources reported that between five and nine militants were killed in the strike, along with up to six injured.

Among the killed was Hussein al-Yemeni (aka Saddam Hussein al Hussami, Ghazwan al Yemeni), linked to the December 2009 attack on a CIA base. Also killed were eight other alleged al Qaeda members. A martyrdom statement released four days after the strike named three as Abu Jameelah al Kuwaiti Hamed al Aazimi, who fought alongside al Qaeda in Iraq leader Abu Musab al Zarqawi; Abu Zahra al Maghrebi; and Akramah al Bunjabi al Pakistani.

All sources said the strike was carried out by a US drone. A US counter-terrorism official later confirmed the strike:

“The strike that appears to have gotten him [was] a clean, precise action that shows these killers cannot hide even in relatively built-up places.”