Machis (N. Waziristan) Drone Attack VI – Jan 2012
Date: 10/01/2012
Location: North Waziristan Agency, FATA, Pakistan
Perpetrators: United States
Victims: 3 Killed, 2 Injured (1 children, 1 civilians)
What Happened?
10 January 2012: A U.S. drone strike destroyed a house in the Kharwanai Machis area of Miranshah Tehsil. This attack reportedly occurred at around 0040 hours. A local media house, The News, reported that a Saudi national was killed along with his wife and child. Reuters reported that an Al-Qaeda militant, Abdullah Khorasani, was killed.
FATA officials alleged that Uzbek militants may have been killed.
This was the first U.S. drone strike of 2012, resuming after a 55-day break that followed the Salala Checkpost massacre in Mohmand Agency where ISAF forces had killed 28 Frontier Corps soldiers. The Pakistani State had withdrawn its permission to the United States to conduct drone strikes in FATA.
Reportedly, a new protocol was worked out between the United States and Pakistan, where Pakistan would have more autonomy in choosing where drone strikes happened. This was demonstrated in a would-be drone strike a week earlier on 4 January 2012, where Islamabad had vetoed an expected drone strike somewhere in North Waziristan.
Protests broke out all over Pakistan after this drone attack.
Sources: The News, Reuters, Associated Press
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