US Drones Kill 43 Terrorists In Pakistan
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New York Times
July 9, 2009
Strikes Kill 43 Militants in Pakistan
By SALMAN MASOOD
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — Pilotless United States aircraft killed at least
43 militants loyal to the leader of the Pakistani Taliban in two
different attacks on Wednesday, according to regional news reports
that could not be independently confirmed.
The attacks, one on a forest training camp and the other on a vehicle
convoy, were the latest in a growing number of strikes aimed at the
network of the Taliban leader, Beitullah Mehsud. His organization is
suspected of arranging most of the suicide bombs in Pakistan in recent
years as well as the assassination of Benazir Bhutto.
On Tuesday, officials and residents said a suspected United States
missile strike killed 16 militants in the same South Waziristan tribal
region as Wednesday’s attacks. The frequency and apparent accuracy of
the attacks was an indication, the officials said, of an enhanced
level of cooperation between the Americans and Pakistanis, who have
been uneasy allies over the years.
Against this backdrop of growing violence, another major leader of the
Pakistani Taliban, Maulana Fazlullah, who commands militants in the
contested northern Swat Valley, was wounded Wednesday in an airstrike,
a Pakistan Army spokesman announced.
According “to credible information, in one of the strikes, Fazlullah
has been injured,” Maj. Gen Athar Abbas, a military spokesman, said at
a news conference in the capital, Islamabad, in which he tried to
assure the Pakistani public and a gathering of skeptical journalists
that the militant leadership in the Swat Valley had been so badly
damaged that it could no longer marshal resistance.
However, General Abbas did not provide further details, and it
remained unclear how seriously Mr. Fazlullah was hurt.
In 2007, Mr. Fazlullah, a fiery cleric also known as FM Mullah or
Radio Mullah for using radio broadcasts to spread his extreme beliefs,
organized thousands of well-armed militants. They gained control of
the picturesque valley, 100 miles north of Islamabad, in what was the
start of a new phase of struggle with the Taliban. For the first time,
heavy fighting moved in from Pakistan’s tribal fringe and into more
settled areas of the country.
Mr. Fazlullah and his followers terrorized the local population
through beheadings, public executions, burning of girls’ schools and
destruction of government infrastructure.
The United States military routinely refrains from commenting on drone
attacks, which have only recently been aimed at Mr. Mehsud and his
followers. Earlier, the attacks seemed aimed mainly at foreign
militants with links to Al Qaeda or to Taliban commanders who were
sending insurgents to fight the American-led coalition inside
Afghanistan.
Pakistan has objected to the strikes, viewing them as a violation of
national sovereignty. But privately, Pakistani officials acknowledge
that they are useful if they avoid civilians and strike militants. The
Pakistani government has repeatedly asked the United States to supply
Pakistan with drones to conduct attacks on its own.
At the news conference on Wednesday, Pakistani government and military
officials declined to comment on the drone strikes. But Qamar Zaman
Kaira, Pakistan’s information minister, expressed criticism. “Drone
attacks are counterproductive,” Mr. Kaira said. “They don’t produce
the desired results.”
Pakistani officials said that despite a recent attack on a military
convoy in North Waziristan that resulted in the killing of dozens of
soldiers, the military operation would remain limited to the South
Waziristan region.
“We have no plans of extending the operation to North Waziristan,”
General Abbas said. “This operation is very focused. It is against a
network which is responsible for conducting most of the terrorist acts
and suicide bombings in our cities and towns.”
General Abbas said the military operation in South Waziristan would be
against Mr. Mehsud’s network. “It is neither against any tribe nor the
region.”
