The second strike in three days on the Shin Warsak area of South Waziristan killed a Yemeni militant, local media reported. Abdul Rehman al-Zaman Yemeni was a ‘mid-level al Qaeda commander, equivalent to a colonel’, according to an anonymous intelligence official in the Long War Journal. The Express Tribune described Yemeni as a ‘senior al Qaeda leader’.

Two missiles were variously reported to have hit a vehicle or a house belonging to al-Zaman; AFP reported the strike hit an alleged militant “praying in an open field outside his home”.

However, the Express Tribune contradicted this, reporting “foreign fighter Abdur Rahman Yamani was in his house when a US drone fired two missiles and killed him”, citing an unnamed security official. The report added that missiles also hit a vehicle close to the house. Two or three additional alleged militants also reportedly died, with three injured, Geo added.

The attack in Ghwa Khwa village, which took place in the afternoon, was ‘very close’ to the site of the previous strike.