Hassan Khel (N. Waziristan) Massacre – Apr 2011
Date: 22/04/2011
Location: North Waziristan Agency, FATA, Pakistan
Perpetrators: United States
Victims: 26 Killed, 10 Injured
What Happened?
22 April 2011: A U.S. drone strike destroyed two houses in the village of Yash Khula in Hassan Khel of Spinwam Tehsil. The attack reportedly occurred at 0435 hours and created a mass-casualty event. The house, and the adjacent guest house, belonged to a local Muhammad Sharif.
Muhammad Sharif has been described as a prominent cleric who acted as a neutral intermediary as leader of a peace committee between Islamabad and different militant factions in FATA. Civilian members of the peace committee, including Gul Ramzan, Hafiz Noorullah Shah, Malik Mamoor Khan, and Malik Nasrullah Khan all testified that this drone strike had exclusively killed civilians and local tribesmen.
An elder, Mehboob Jan, along with others have testified that women and children were among the dead. Despite these high-profile testimonies, a study by the AP declared at least 20 of the dead to be militants, and instead alleged that the house belonged to a militant commander Gul Sharif. The TBIJ declared that they had found no evidence that women were killed. Other limited and obscure testimony from local people say that women and children were killed.
Given the severe contradictions, this U.S. massacre is considered undocumented.
Sources: New York Times, Reuters, Associated Press, Xinhua
OMM-PK269