(Previous Incident Code: Ob91 )

The US allegedly carried out two strikes in north Waziristan on May 11th, the first took place in Datta Khel and is covered in this entry, while the second took place in Gurwak and is detailed in Ob92.

The first strike took place in Datta Khel area where a reported swarm of up to nine drones fired as many as 12 missiles at cars and a housing compound allegedly linked to militant commander Hafiz Gul Bahadur.

According to many reports, here cited by Reuters: “three missiles hit a vehicle and three militants sitting in it were killed (…) The drones then fired a barrage of missiles at a nearby militant compound, killing at least 11 more, according to a second security official.”

The death toll spanned from eight to 14, where most reported that the fatalities were militants. Only The News reported civilian deaths, noting that militants claimed that only ten of their men had died:

“The official and tribal sources said 13 people, including villagers and militants, were killed in the first round of missile strikes… An official of the paramilitary Frontier Corps (FC) on condition of anonymity said death toll might rise as some of the missiles struck houses of local tribesmen in the village. He said five tribesmen injured in the attack in Doga were brought to the Agency Headquarters Hospital in Miramshah and three others were rushed to Peshawar.”

Following the strike, a local official told a journalist: “It’s terrible. They intend to intensify the drone attacks as the number of planes hovering over the area has gone up dramatically.” The New York Times reported a local resident as saying that “he saw a truck stacked with empty coffins heading for Datta Khel after the attack.”

All known sourced said the strike was the work of a US drone.