Gender |
Male |
|---|---|
Tribe |
Unknown |
Age |
37-50 |
Nationality |
Australian |
Place of origin |
Unknown |
Reported status |
Alleged militant |
Militant affiliation |
Taliban |
Rank |
Unknown |
A man described as an Australian commander named Saifullah was reportedly killed when missiles struck a house he was staying in. But the Australian government says its own investigation found ‘no information’ on the death of one of its citizen.
Little is known of Saifullah’s background or how he came to be in North Waziristan, but a Bureau researcher who investigated the strike reports: ‘There was no doubt about Saifullah’s background. He was a white Australian convert who had grown a beard, and who had come to North Waziristan four years ago.’
A Pakistani military official told the Bureau Saifullah was known locally as ‘the Australian’.
Dawn’s local news channel and Chinese news agency Xinhua reported that he was 50 and a ‘key supporter’ of Osama bin Laden. Xinhua added: ‘He is the second most important militant leader killed in U.S. drone strike in Pakistan since this year.’
Asia Times reported that he had been working ‘in tandem’ with Ilyas Kashmiri, a veteran commander who fought for several militant organisations including al Qaeda. Kashmiri was killed in a drone strike in South Waziristan in June 2011.
The Bureau’s field research found he was rather younger, putting his age in his late thirties. He was a fighter for local militant commander Hafiz Gul Bahadur, and regularly travelled to Khost, in Afghanistan, they added, where he had reportedly fought against western and Afghan forces.
According to the researchers, Saifullah had returned from Khost to Mir Ali two days before his death.
He was staying in the home of a local man identified by researchers as Zahirullah. Some local sources claimed Zahirullah had previously fought for the Taliban in Afghanistan, although others said he had no militant links but would have been obliged to host militants ‘in keeping with local traditions of hospitality’, the Bureau’s researchers explain. But other local sources disagreed with this, saying the fact that he was hosting a militant would make him ‘a suspect’.
Saifullah was one of up to six people killed when a drone attacked the house’s hujra (guest house) at around 11pm. Locals told Bureau researchers that Zahirullah, the reputed homeowner, was killed. However a government document obtained by the Bureau records a different name for the homeowner and does not specify whether they survived the attack.
Shortly after the strike, Australian officials told the Bureau they were aware of the reports of an Australian’s death. The following month they announced: ‘There is no information to indicate an Australian was killed in the alleged attack.’
The government document records that a ‘Foreigner’ was among four ‘non-locals’ who died, along with two ‘locals’. In the ‘notes’ column, it says: ‘A Foreigner including his wife and two children.’ It is unclear whether this refers to the family of Saifullah, or to one of the other ‘non-locals’. There is no mention of Saifullah’s family in any media reports or by the Bureau’s researchers.
Bureau researcher (Bureau)