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61029
17 Jan, 2017
Update
Pakistan, Somalia, Yemen

Obama’s covert drone war in numbers: ten times more strikes than Bush

There were ten times more air strikes in the covert war on terror during President Barack Obama’s presidency than under his predecessor, George W. Bush. Obama embraced the US drone programme, overseeing more strikes in his first year than Bush carried out during his entire presidency. A total of 563 strikes, largely by drones, targeted […]
41481
16 Dec, 2016
Report
Iraq, Syria

Limited Accountability: A transparency audit of the Coalition air war against so-called Islamic State

A detailed assessment of transparency and accountability issues among the 13-member alliance. The audit – commissioned by UK defence think tank the Remote Control Project – worked with four sample militaries (the US, UK, Canada and Denmark) to build a detailed understanding of how militaries track and assess civilian casualty assessments. It also gauges transparency […]
61042
11 Oct, 2016
Update
Somalia

US accused of killing 22 Somali soldiers and civilians

US Special Forces AC-130 gunships have been the primary platform for attacks in Somalia Somali officials have claimed that the US killed 22 local soldiers and civilians in a drone strike that hit the north-central city of Galkayo late last month. The US has confirmed it conducted a strike in the area on the same […]
61056
1 Jul, 2016
Update
Pakistan, Somalia, Yemen

Why White House civilian casualty figures on civilian are a wild underestimate

Chris Woods set up the Bureau’s award-winning Drones Project in 2011, and is the author of Sudden Justice: America’s Secret Drone Wars. He now runs Airwars, which monitors international airstrikes and civilian casualties in Iraq and Syria. Targeted killings or assassinations beyond the battlefield remain a highly charged subject. Most controversial of all is the number of […]
61050
1 Jul, 2016
Update
Pakistan, Somalia, Yemen

Obama drone casualty numbers a fraction of those recorded by the Bureau

The US government today claimed it has killed between 64 and 116 “non-combatants” in 473 counter-terrorism strikes in Pakistan, Yemen, Somalia and Libya between January 2009 and the end of 2015. This is a fraction of the 380 to 801 civilian casualty range recorded by the Bureau of Investigative Journalism from reports by local and […]
61063
7 Mar, 2016
Update
Somalia

Unprecedented death toll from US air strike in Somalia

The US flattened an al Shabaab training camp in central Somalia and killed around 150 people, the Pentagon said today, making it the highest death toll in a US counter-terrorism strike yet recorded anywhere by the Bureau. The strike hit approximately 100 miles north of Mogadishu and killed al Shabaab terrorists who posed an imminent […]
61075
1 Dec, 2015
Update
Afghanistan, Pakistan, Somalia, Yemen

US drone war, November 2015: American troops in Afghanistan and Somalia supported by new strikes

Gen John Campbell, top US military officer in Afghanistan, admits human error behind the destruction of a hospital on October 3. US strikes continued in Afghanistan and Somalia last month. Strikes in both countries were carried out to counter a threat to US forces on the ground. There were no attacks reported in Pakistan, where the Pakistan […]
61077
2 Nov, 2015
Update
Afghanistan, Pakistan, Somalia, Yemen

At least 80 US airstrikes hit Afghanistan in October: The White House’s covert drone and air war – monthly update

On October 3 a US airstrike destroyed MSF’s hospital in Kunduz, northern Afghanistan (Photo: Victor Blue/MSF)   Scores of US air and drone strikes hit Afghanistan in October as the country’s military and police continued struggling to control the resurgent Taliban. While at least 80 strikes reportedly hit Afghanistan, the CIA’s drone strikes stopped at […]
61079
15 Oct, 2015
Update
Pakistan, Somalia, Yemen

Podcast: US whistleblower Brandon Bryant on Germany’s role in America’s drone wars

Former US drone operator Brandon Bryant (photo: Democracy Now!/You Tube) As a parliamentary inquiry in Berlin explores Germany’s role in America’s drone wars, former drone operator Brandon Bryant tells the Bureau about what he saw of it during his time with the Air Force. Bryant, who himself gave testimony to the inquiry today, said that […]
61083
5 Oct, 2015
Update
Afghanistan, Pakistan, Somalia, Yemen

Monthly drone report: Total drone strikes under Obama in Pakistan, Somalia and Yemen now 491 after September attacks

A US Air Force Reaper in Afghanistan (Photo: US Air Force) EXECUTIVE SUMMARY i. Key points: CIA and Pakistan Air Force drones hit Pakistan’s tribal areas US strikes continue in Yemen as the civil war rages Al Shabaab continue to kill peacekeepers and civilians in Somalia The three drone strikes in Pakistan, Somalia and Yemen in […]
61089
2 Sep, 2015
Update
Afghanistan, Pakistan, Somalia, Yemen

Monthly drone report, August 2015: 32 US strikes hit Afghanistan alone

A US Reaper taxis at Creech airbase in Nevada, USA (US Air Force photo by Senior Airman Larry E Reid Jr) EXECUTIVE SUMMARY i. Key points: US actions continue in Afghanistan, eight months after combat operations officially ended. American drones continue to kill alleged AQAP fighters as Yemen’s civil war rages. The first strike in […]
61091
3 Aug, 2015
Update
Afghanistan, Pakistan, Somalia, Yemen

US drone wars in Pakistan, Afghanistan, Yemen and Somalia: Monthly report, July 2015

African Union peacekeepers liberated towns from al Shabaab control last month, with US air support (AU UN IST PHOTO/Tobin Jones taken in 2014) EXECUTIVE SUMMARY i. Key points: As many strikes hit Afghanistan in July (17) as in January to June combined No strikes hit Pakistan for the second calendar month this year, now 56 […]
61095
1 Jul, 2015
Update
Afghanistan, Pakistan, Somalia, Yemen

Drone war report, January – June 2015: controversial ‘signature strikes’ hit Yemen and Pakistan

President Barack Obama publicly acknowledged a specific drone strike in Pakistan, an unprecedented step. He apologized for killing American Warren Weinstein and Italian Giovanni Lo Porto, two al Qaeda hostages, in a signature strike in Pakistan (Photo: White House) EXECUTIVE SUMMARY i. Key points: Signature strikes return to Pakistan and Yemen. First confirmed civilian casualties […]
61097
19 Jun, 2015
Update
Afghanistan, Pakistan, Somalia, Yemen

Podcast: deaths of 38 Westerners in US drone strikes raises serious questions for US allies

Rammstein in Germany is a key hub for US drone operations, including those that killed German citizens (Flickr/US Army Corps of Engineers) US drones have killed at least 38 Westerners since 2002 – most from some of America’s closest allies, raising serious questions for those governments about how much they knew and how much they helped with […]
61099
5 Jun, 2015
Update
Afghanistan, Pakistan, Somalia, Yemen

Podcast: “Sudden Justice” author Chris Woods on CIA accountability and the politics of US drone wars

John Brennan, the Director of the CIA since March 2013 Transferring control of the US drone programme away from the CIA could paradoxically result in less accountability, author and investigative journalist Chris Woods told this week’s Drone News. Since President Barack Obama announced in April that a CIA drone strike on an al Qaeda compound in […]
61101
2 Jun, 2015
Update
Afghanistan, Pakistan, Somalia, Yemen

Monthly drone report, May 2015: US strikes kill at least 48 in three countries

A US helicopter ferrying military advisers over Nangarhar province, Afghanistan, where US aircraft killed at least 34 this month (USAF) EXECUTIVE SUMMARY i. Key points: A Pew Research Center poll finds strong support in the US for drone strikes Three US strikes kill at least 34 in Afghanistan The US continues to bomb Yemen in […]
61105
7 May, 2015
Update
Pakistan, Somalia, Yemen

ANALYSIS Counting the cost of US drones: Local wars killing local people

The funeral of Akram Shah, a government employee, killed with at least four other locals, all civilians, in June 2011 (THIS KHAN/AFP/Getty Images) As the Bureau revealed recently, the accidental killing of American Warren Weinstein and Italian Giorgio Lo Porto by the CIA in January now means at least 38 Westerners have been killed by covert US […]
61107
1 May, 2015
Update
Afghanistan, Pakistan, Somalia, Yemen

Monthly Drone Report, April 2015: Western drone deaths reach 38

Spanish citizen Raquel Burgos Garcia died in a CIA drone strike in Pakistan in 2005. (AP Photo/Nicolas Asfouri) EXECUTIVE SUMMARY i. Key points: Drones have killed 38 Westerners since 2002 including two al Qaeda hostages killed in January. US air strikes continue in Afghanistan but the vacuum of information remains. Most drone strikes in Yemen in a […]
61111
27 Apr, 2015
Update
Pakistan, Somalia, Yemen

Could German court halt White House’s ‘illegal’ drone war? An exclusive extract from Chris Woods’ new book Sudden Justice

The US Air Base in Ramstein, Germany, has played a key role in the CIA drone strikes that killed seven Germany citizens (Flickr/US Army) The debate over America’s use of drones to kill its own citizens has never been as intense. Last week in an unprecedented announcement, President Barack Obama admitted that CIA drones had […]
61113
23 Apr, 2015
Update
Pakistan, Somalia, Yemen

Hostage deaths mean 38 Westerners killed by US drone strikes, Bureau investigation reveals

Al Qaeda’s US hostage, Warren Weinstein, killed in a US drone strike in January 2015. In an unprecedented announcement today President Barack Obama admitted that two al Qaeda hostages, an American and an Italian, were killed in a US drone strike in Pakistan in January. He also said two other US citizens were killed in a […]
61115
15 Apr, 2015
Update
Pakistan, Somalia, Yemen

Podcast: Tell us the whole truth about your drone killing program, ACLU chief warns White House

The ACLU has been fighting the US government in courthouses in New York and Washington DC, above (Wikimedia Commons) The US government’s tactic of releasing details about its targeted killing programme in only a piecemeal way is “very dangerous”, the American Civil Liberties Union warns in this week’s Drone News. Jameel Jaffer, the ACLU’s deputy legal director, […]
61119
1 Apr, 2015
Update
Afghanistan, Pakistan, Somalia

Monthly Drone Report, March 2015: US drone strikes drop 50% as chaos envelops Yemen

Saudi jets have began bombing Houthi targets across its southern border in Yemen EXECUTIVE SUMMARY i. Key points: US drone strike frequency halves from Q4 2014 to Q1 2015 Strikes appear to target the Pakistan Taliban in Afghanistan A single CIA strike kills three in Pakistan as Islamabad forces hammer the tribal areas Yemen sinks […]
61135
6 Feb, 2015
Update
Somalia

Podcast: US drone strikes in Somalia considered a badge of honour by al Shabaab

US drone strikes are raising al Shabaab’s profile and inflating its importance, BBC World Service Africa editor Mary Harper told the Bureau’s Drone News podcast. Focusing on al Shabaab with sophisticated drone technology “gives [al Shabaab] almost a legitimacy in terms of the kind of group that they are claiming to be,” said Harper. The […]
61133
6 Feb, 2015
Update
Somalia

Does al Shabaab strike signal change in US tactics in Somalia?

A US drone strike which killed a senior al Shabaab leader in Somalia last Saturday appears to have been part of a change of tactics by the Americans since it started targeting the militant group in 2007. It was the fifth consecutive such strike against al Shabaab’s leadership, with drones now appearing to have superseded other, […]
61137
3 Feb, 2015
Update
Somalia, Yemen

The CIA appears to have cut civilian deaths from drone strikes in Pakistan: why can’t the US do the same in Yemen, asks Owen Bennett-Jones

Pakistani tribesmen offer funeral prayer -Thir Khan/AFP/Getty Images In May 2013, faced with persistent reports of drones killing civilians, President Obama announced that no strike would be authorised unless there was: “near certainty that no civilians would be killed or injured.” It was, he said, “the highest standard we can set.” The new rule seemed […]
61139
2 Feb, 2015
Update
Pakistan, Somalia, Yemen

Almost 2,500 now killed by covert US drone strikes since Obama inauguration six years ago: The Bureau’s report for January 2015

At least 2,464 people have now been killed by US drone strikes outside the country’s declared war zones since President Barack Obama’s inauguration six years ago, the Bureau’s latest monthly report reveals. Of the total killed since Obama took his oath of office on January 20 2009, at least 314 have been civilians, while the number of […]
61149
7 Jan, 2015
Update
Pakistan, Somalia, Yemen

US drone war: 2014 in numbers

CIA Pakistan drone campaign reported to have killed nearly five times more people under Obama than under Bush No confirmed civilian casualties in Pakistan for second year running Domestic buildings continue to be the most frequently hit target in Pakistan Highest ever number of drone strikes in a year in Somalia Total people killed per […]
61155
3 Dec, 2014
Update
Pakistan, Somalia, Yemen

Podcast: An interview with the makers of new drone documentary

For this week’s Drone News, Abigail Fielding-Smith went to Copenhagen to interview the maker of a new documentary on drone warfare, Tonje Hessen Schei. The documentary, Drone, draws on interviews from Washington DC to Waziristan. The director explains that she is alarmed at the direction the technology is going in. Listen to this week’s episode. […]
61157
1 Dec, 2014
Update
Pakistan, Somalia, Yemen

November 2014 Update: US covert actions in Pakistan, Yemen and Somalia

Three drone strikes hit houses and vehicles in Pakistan’s North Waziristan area (Flickr/Maverick bashoo) Report of children killed in drone attack in Pakistan. Four strikes hit Yemen – most in a month since April. No strikes reported in Somalia. Four names added to Naming the Dead, including two children. Pakistan November 2014 actions Total CIA […]
61165
3 Nov, 2014
Update
Pakistan, Somalia, Yemen

October 2014 Update: US covert actions in Pakistan, Yemen and Somalia

CIA drone strikes rocket in Pakistan while the casualty rate is relatively low (US Air Force/Sr Airman Andrew Lee) Obama drone strikes in Pakistan reach 350. US drones kill at least four in Yemen. Al Shabaab lose ground in Somalia but remain a threat. Seven names added to the Bureau’s Naming the Dead project. Pakistan October 2014 actions Total CIA […]