Update

African Union and Somali troops advance on al Shabaab positions (UN Photo/Tobin Jones) A US drone strike hit Somalia, the first in seven months, in an attack aimed at killing al Shabaab leader, Ahmed Abdi Godane (below). The attack killed “six al Shabaab officers” but it is not clear if Godane was among them, said […]

US Predator drone (Doctress Neutopia via Flickr) Pakistan military offensive against the Taliban continues. Two possible US drone strikes in Yemen, bringing seven-week pause in reported US attacks to an end. The seventh successive month without a reported US attack in Somalia. Pakistan August 2014 actions Total CIA strikes in August: 1 Total killed in strikes in August: 5-7 All […]

In February 2011 the Bureau began investigating CIA drone strikes in Pakistan. At that time there was a lethal US drone strike in Pakistan every four days or so, and there had been one hundred and eighty drone strikes there since Barack Obama became president. The US was publicly denying the drone strike campaign. On August […]

Troops advance during an anti-al Shabaab operation in Somalia (UN Photo/Stuart Price) Pakistan has the bloodiest month of drone strikes in two years. July is the first month of the year with no drone attacks in Yemen. Six months without a reported US attack in Somalia. Naming the Dead database records 700 names. Pakistan July 2014 actions Total CIA strikes in […]

International terrorism has changed and that change is making lethal drone strikes more likely, according to Paul Rogers, Professor of Peace Studies at Bradford University. ‘The whole thing has really made a transition from what you would probably just about call a movement 10 years ago to an idea that really has spread and has […]

An MQ-9 Reaper waits to take flight (Photo: US Air Force/Staff Sgt John Bainter) Drone strikes restart in Pakistan after a pause of almost six months. US drone strike casualty rate in Yemen jumps to 8.3 people killed in each attack on average. Kenyan jets strike al Shabaab in Somalia. The Naming the Dead project approaches 700 names. Pakistan […]

CIA drones have not hit Pakistan for over five months – some now suggest it is a permanent end to strikes. The hiatus in drone strikes continues as Pakistan’s military takes the fight to the Taliban. A US drone strike kills at least four amid an ongoing Yemen military offensive against al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula. Another month […]

The wreckage of a four-wheel drive destroyed by CIA drones in Yemen (EPA/stringer). More than four months without a drone strike in Pakistan. US drones and special forces launch barrage of attacks in Yemen. ‘Western’ special forces support peacekeeper offensive in Somalia. The Bureau has added more than 100 names to its Naming the Dead project since launch. Pakistan […]

Ethicists and drone experts discuss the morality of drone warfare in the latest episode of the Bureau’s podcast Drone News. Dr Alex Leveringhaus of Oxford University and Dr Peter Lee, Portsmouth University lecturer of military ethics who teaches at the RAF College Cranwell, spoke to the Bureau about what they see as the key ethical […]

The US should gather accurate figures of civilians killed in its drone strikes and subject them to Congressional oversight, a leading US military analyst has said. Dr Larry Lewis, principal research scientist at the Center for Naval Analyses (CNA), a federally funded military research organisation, also called for better training and intelligence analysis in order […]

A bill before the House of Representatives could force Washington to be more transparent about drones (Architect of the Capitol). A bipartisan Bill that would force President Obama to reveal casualties from covert US drone strikes has been put before the US Congress. If successful, the bill would require the White House to publish an […]

US drones were under scrutiny at the UN Human Rights Council this month (UN Photo/Jean-Marc Ferré) There have been no reported drone strikes in Pakistan for more than three months Strikes hit Yemen at an intensity not seen since July 2013 Another month without a US operation in Somalia, while African Union forces make advances Naming […]

The £1bn Watchkeeper drone will not be used in Afghanistan, the report reveals (Photo: Defence Images) The British government should be more transparent about intelligence-sharing that leads to covert drone strikes, say MPs in a report published today. The call for greater transparency ‘in relation to safeguards and limitations the UK Government has in place […]

Al Shabaab remain a violent threat, even in Mogadishu (Albany Associates) Somali militant group al Shabaab are still capable of indiscriminate violence, the BBC’s Somalia editor Mary Harper told the Bureau. Al Qaeda-affiliated al Shabaab is still a considerable threat despite almost a decade of Western interventions, including drone strikes. It remains effective because it […]

UN investigator Ben Emmerson said investigating civilian casualties is a legal obligation (United Nations). Yesterday UN investigator Ben Emmerson presented his latest report on drone strikes to the UN Human Rights Council (HRC) in Geneva. Emmerson, a British lawyer and UN special rapporteur on counter-terrorism and human rights, said countries are under a ‘present and […]

John Brennan accepted President Obama’s nomination as CIA director on January 7 2013. (Peter da Souza/White House) John Brennan has now completed his first year as director of the CIA. In that time there has not been a confirmed report of a civilian casualty from a CIA drone strike in Pakistan, according to an analysis […]

US drones launched no attacks in Pakistan for the second month in a row (Photo: US Air Force photo/Senior Airman Andrew Lee). Pakistan military attacks Pakistan Taliban as the pause in drone strikes enters its third month. One possible drone strike hits Yemen. More details of December 12 wedding strike emerge. No US operations are reported in […]

A UN counter-terrorism expert has published the second report of his year-long investigation into drone strikes, highlighting 30 strikes where civilians are reported to have been killed. The report, by British lawyer Ben Emmerson QC, identifies 30 attacks between 2006 and 2013 that show sufficient indications of civilian deaths to demand a ‘public explanation of the […]

The CIA director and other intelligence chiefs were urged to increase transparency over covert drone operations by members of the House intelligence committee yesterday. Adam Schiff, a Democratic Party congressman, called on CIA director John Brennan, to support an annual report detailing the number of alleged militants and civilians killed each year. This would enable […]

Noor Khan’s legal challenge to drones in the English courts was rejected this month (Photo: Reprieve). January was the first month in two years without a drone strike in Pakistan. The first civilian casualty of the year was reported in a possible drone strike in Yemen. A rare drone strike – the second in three […]

Obama has launched over 390 covert drone strikes in his first five years in office (Pete Souza/White House). Five years ago, on January 23 2009, a CIA drone flattened a house in Pakistan’s tribal regions. It was the third day of Barack Obama’s presidency, and this was the new commander-in-chief’s first covert drone strike. Initial […]

2013 saw fewer drone strikes than previous years (Photo: US Air Force/Airman 1st Class Jason Epley) In 2013 the number of drone strikes to hit Pakistan fell to the lowest levels of Obama’s presidency: 27 strikes reportedly hit the country’s tribal areas, down from a peak of 128 in 2010. And for the first time since Pakistan […]

‘I don’t think we’ve scratched the surface of what’s happened’, Jeremy Scahill tells the Bureau (Photo: Civic Bakery) Journalist and filmmaker Jeremy Scahill says that handing control of CIA drone operations to the military could lead to ‘very serious abuses’, in Drone News, the Bureau’s new drones podcast. Scahill met the Bureau’s Alice K Ross when […]

Conflict experts told British lawmakers the UK is probably complicit in the secret drone war (Jim Trodel/Flickr) It is ‘inevitable’ British spies are sharing intelligence with the US that is then used in drone strikes, a prominent UN expert told UK politicians yesterday. Ben Emmerson QC, who is leading an ongoing drones investigation for the UN, […]

CIA drones destroyed part of a madrassa in Hangu district – the first strike outside Pakistan’s tribal areas. (Reuters/Syed Shah) CIA drones kill one of the most senior militants in Pakistan. The first reported airstrikes in Yemen in three months kill alleged foreign fighters. More African peacekeepers will go to Somalia as al Shabaab remains […]

The Bureau analyses President Obama’s drone strike guidelines six months on from his speech setting out the rules. (Pete Souza/White House). Six months after President Obama laid out US rules for using armed drones, a Bureau analysis shows that covert drone strikes in Yemen and Pakistan have killed more people than in the six months […]

Relatives hold photographs of victims of a January drone strike (Letta Tayler/Human Rights Watch). A single strike kills up to five in Pakistan, at the end of a month of sharp criticism of the US drone war. There are no reported drone attacks in Yemen for the second month running. The US military attacks Somalia twice, the […]

UN members call for greater transparency (Image: Chris Woods) Key members of the United Nations – including some of Washington’s closest allies – broke with a decade of tradition on Friday when they endorsed calls for greater transparency over drone civilian deaths. The European Union, the United Kingdom and Switzerland were joined by the Russian Federation and China in calling for […]

Rafeequl Rehman and his children showing a picture of Mamana Bibi, killed by a drone in Pakistan. (Image: Amnesty International) Leading human rights groups Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch have raised serious concerns about the legality of drone strikes in Pakistan and Yemen. The two organisations have conducted separate investigations into specific strikes to highlight […]

Emmerson: Drones operate in an ‘accountability vacuum’ (Photo: United Nations) A report by a UN expert urges the US to ‘release its own data on the level of civilian casualties’ caused by drone strikes and attacks the lack of transparency surrounding CIA and US special forces drone operations. Ben Emmerson, a British barrister and UN […]