Jason Ditz / AntiWar.com & Press TV – 2012-06-05 00:32:57
US Drone Strikes Kill 24 in Past 24 Hours in Pakistan
Jason Ditz / AntiWar.com
(June 3, 2012) — A pair of US drone strikes against Pakistan’s South Waziristan Agency have killed at least 24 people, 16 in South Waziristan and 17 in North Waziristan and wounded four others in the past 24 hours. The majority of the slain “suspects” were unidentified.
The one identified person was Malang Jan, killed in the second attack. Jan is identified as an “associate” of Maulvi Nazir, a warlord in South Waziristan who has remained on good terms with the Pakistani government, but who is frequently targeted by the US.
Pakistan’s government has regularly demanded that the US halt all drone strikes, warning that it is fueling massive amounts of militancy in the tribal areas and making matters worse. The US has spurned this demand, insisting that the missile attacks are a vital part of the ongoing war.
The strikes have had an impact well beyond the tribal areas they are launched as well. The significant number of civilian deaths, and the overwhelming number of people killed who are just never identified, has added fuel to a growing anti-US backlash across both Pakistan and the rest of the region.
US Assassination Drone Strikes Kill 14 Pakistanis in 24 Hours
Press TV
(June 3, 2012) — Two separate US assassination drone strikes have killed at least 14 people in Pakistan’s northwestern tribal region over the past 24 hours. Despite the Pakistani government’s repeated calls on Washington to end the drone attacks on civilians, at least 10 people were killed in a US drone attack on village of Mana Raghzai in South Waziristan.
The causalities come after two drones fired four missiles at a house in the troubled region on Sunday morning. It’s the second attack in the area in the past 24 hours and the sixth over the past two weeks. Earlier on Saturday, the US drones pounded a building in Pakistan’s tribal region of South Waziristan, leaving at least four people killed and several others injured.
Waziristan and other tribal regions in northwestern Pakistan have been frequently targeted by US drones over the past few years.
Washington has been using its assassination drones in Pakistan, Afghanistan, Yemen and Somalia and claims that it is targeting terrorists, but civilians have been killed in the attacks. Figures show that the American drone strikes have killed at least 212 people in Yemen and Pakistan in the month of May.
The aerial attacks were initiated by former US President George W. Bush but have been escalated under President Barack Obama.
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