Feel good story of the day.
(LWJ) — US Predators killed five Taliban commanders in South Waziristan who served a leader favored by the Pakistani military.
The unmanned, CIA-operated Predators, or the more deadly Reapers, fired five missiles at a vehicle in the village of Tora Gola in the Azam Warsak area of South Waziristan, according to Dawn. Four of the five Taliban commanders were identified as Hazrat Omar, Khan Mohammad, Miraj Wazir, and Ashfaq Wazir.
Omar is the younger brother of Mullah Nazir, the leader of the Taliban in the Wazir areas in the western parts of South Waziristan. Omar served as Nazir’s operational commander and directed the Taliban faction’s activities in Afghanistan, Pakistani officials told AFP.
This year the CIA has begun to target Nazir’s tribal areas, after focusing nearly exclusively in North Waziristan in 2010. Twenty of the 22 strikes that have occurred in South Waziristan this year were conducted in areas under Nazir’s control (there have been 58 strikes in Pakistan’s tribal areas so far in 2011). Last year, only two of the seven strikes took place in areas under Nazir’s influence (there were 117 strikes in Pakistan’s tribal areas in 2010).
Update: It’s raining AGM-114 Hellfire missiles!
(LWJ) — US Predators struck for the second time today in Pakistan’s tribal areas, killing six “militants” in a town where a top al Qaeda leader was killed in a separate strike six weeks ago.
The second strike took place in the village of Hisokhel in the Mir Ali area of North Waziristan. Unmanned, CIA operated Predators or Reapers fired a salvo of five missiles at a “hideout” in the town, killing six fighters, according to The Associated Press.
The target of the strike has not been disclosed. No senior leaders from the Taliban, al Qaeda, or allied terror groups operating in the area have been reported killed.