US Drones Killed 123 Civilians in January

World Press - World Press

Written by Administrator

Thursday, 04 February 2010 11:47

The February 1, 2010 issue of Lahore, Pakistan’s “The News” media outlet reported that US predators carried out a record number of 12 deadly missile strikes in the tribal areas of Pakistan in January 2010, of which 10 went wrong and failed to hit their targets, killing 123 innocent Pakistanis. The remaining two drone strikes reportedly killed three alleged al-Qaeda leaders, reporter Amir Mir wrote.

Predator, or “drones”, are small un-manned robotic aircraft outfitted with missiles. Most fly out of bases in Afghanistan but are controlled and fired from intelligence centers in the United States, including some facilities in the Washington DC metropolitan area. International law experts say the use of drones to kill “suspected terrorists” is a violation of many international laws and norms. “Suspects” are hard to accurately identify from drone surveillance, and most drone strikes are done after “tips” on the ground. Since strikes are mostly made on mere hunches, civilian deaths are extraordinarily high.

The United States routinely dismisses reports of civilian deaths resulting from drone strikes.

The rapid increase in the US drone attacks in the Pakistani tribal areas bordering Afghanistan can be gauged from the fact that only two such strikes were carried out in January 2009, which killed 36 people. The highest number of drone attacks carried out in a single month in 2009 was six, which were conducted in December last year. But the dawn of the New Year has already seen a dozen such attacks reported the News.

The News report tallied civilian deaths based on individual missile strike reports from Pakistan’s Interior Ministry.