{"id":16289,"date":"2012-09-03T10:35:32","date_gmt":"2012-09-03T18:35:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/antiwar.com\/blog\/?p=16289"},"modified":"2012-09-03T10:36:11","modified_gmt":"2012-09-03T18:36:11","slug":"tbij-civilian-casualties-in-us-drone-war-august-2012-update","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/2012\/09\/03\/tbij-civilian-casualties-in-us-drone-war-august-2012-update\/","title":{"rendered":"TBIJ: Civilian Casualties in US Drone War, August 2012 Update"},"content":{"rendered":"

The following is authored by Chris Woods and Jack Serle at The Bureau of Investigative Journalism<\/a>. Reprinted here with permission<\/a>.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

Pakistan<\/strong>: August sees the highest number of CIA strikes in\u00a0Pakistan<\/a>\u00a0since October 2011. A number of senior militants are killed along with at least two named civilians.<\/p>\n

Yemen<\/strong>: At least 26 people are killed in five confirmed US drone strikes in\u00a0Yemen<\/a>. This is still less than the May peak. Civilian casualties are confirmed for the first time since May.<\/p>\n

Somalia<\/strong>:\u00a0For the fourth month no US military actions are reported in\u00a0Somalia<\/a>. In related news, three Ugandan helicopters crash-land prior to an anticipated assault on militant-held Kismayo.<\/p>\n

Pakistan<\/strong><\/p>\n

July 2012 actions<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n

Total CIA strikes in August:\u00a07<\/strong>
\nTotal killed in strikes in August:\u00a029-65<\/strong>, of whom at least\u00a02<\/strong>\u00a0<\/strong>were reportedly civilians<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

All actions 2004 \u2013 August 31 2012<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n

Total Obama strikes:\u00a0291<\/strong>
\nTotal US strikes since 2004:\u00a0343<\/strong>
\nTotal reported killed:\u00a02,558-3,319<\/strong>
\nCivilians reported killed:\u00a0474-881<\/strong>
\nChildren reported killed:\u00a0176<\/strong>
\nTotal reported injured:\u00a01,226-1,359<\/strong>
\nFor the Bureau\u2019s full Pakistan databases click here<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

The CIA launched seven drone strikes in August, the highest recorded in any month since October 2011. The rate of strikes has continued to rise through the year.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
\nTotal CIA drone strikes in Pakistan, per month of 2012<\/em>.<\/p>\n

All seven attacks happened after Ramadan.\u00a0Neither the CIA nor the Taliban<\/a>\u00a0seem to change their tactics in the month of fasting and the festival of Eid al Fitr. The Bureau\u2019s data shows that since President Obama came to office there has been no let-up in the tempo of strikes during Ramadan and Eid.\u00a0A CIA drone strike has never taken place on either Christmas or Easter Day.<\/p>\n

The August barrage of strikes culminated with\u00a0three coordinated attacks<\/a>\u00a0on August 24 that killed 13-18 people including several named militants, according to the Bureau\u2019s field researchers. Four named Turkistani militants died along with three named members of the Pakistan Taliban (TTP).<\/p>\n

For the first time in some months there were confirmed reports of civilian casualties in Pakistan. On August 18 the\u00a0wife of Ahsan Aziz<\/strong>, a Kashmiri militant, died in a strike alongside her husband. Thirteen-year-old\u00a0Osama Haqqani<\/strong>\u00a0also reportedly died on August 21.\u00a0 As many as 25 others died with the teenager, including his father Badruddin Haqqani, the third-in-command of the Haqqani Network. These were the first known names of civilians reported killed since\u00a0October 31 2001<\/a>, although other civilians have been reported killed in this period.<\/p>\n

Pakistan responded to the onslaught of strikes by continuing with its vocal protests, calling in a senior US diplomat for\u00a0an official reprimand<\/a>. Washington in turn insisted that Islamabad pressure the Haqqani Network to stop cross-border attacks on Isaf and Afghan forces.<\/p>\n

Yemen<\/strong><\/p>\n

August 2012 actions<\/strong><\/p>\n

Confirmed US drone strikes:\u00a05<\/strong>
\nFurther reported\/possible US strike events:\u00a01<\/strong>
\nTotal reported killed in US operations:\u00a026-33
\n<\/strong>Civilians reported killed in US strikes:\u00a02<\/strong><\/div>\n

All actions 2002 \u2013 August 31 2012*<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n

Total confirmed US operations:\u00a052-62<\/strong>
\nTotal confirmed US drone strikes:\u00a040-50<\/strong>
\nPossible additional US operations:\u00a0113-128<\/strong>
\nOf which possible additional US drone strikes:\u00a057-66<\/strong>
\nTotal reported killed:\u00a0347-990<\/strong>
\nTotal civilians killed:\u00a060-151<\/strong>
\nChildren killed:\u00a024-31
\n<\/a><\/strong><\/em>Click here for the full Yemen data<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Five of the six strikes in August were confirmed as US attacks by a variety of Yemeni officials.<\/p>\n

The focus of US attacks has now moved to Hadramout in the eastern part of Yemen. Five strikes hit targets in the arid province, bearing out\u00a0reports that al Qaeda has taken refuge<\/a>\u00a0there. This is a shift from Abyan province where most of the attacks occurred in July. Yemeni security forces and local militia drove the militants from their \u2018Islamic Emirate\u2019 in Abyan earlier this year.<\/p>\n

The first named civilian casualties were reported since Red Cross worker Hussein Saleh was killed on June 20 in a possible US airstrike. Policeman\u00a0Walid Abdullah Bin Ali Jaber<\/strong>\u00a0and\u00a0Salem Ahmed bin Ali Jaber<\/strong>, a mosque imam, were killed in a house in the eastern Hadramout province when a nearby car carrying alleged militants was destroyed.<\/p>\n

While drone strikes seem to have plateaued, al Qaeda and its ally Ansar al Sharia have continued with their bloody insurgency against the government. In the most deadly attack this month, a suicide bomber targeted a funeral wake in Jaar where more than 150 people had gathered to mourn a local sheikh. His militia had first fought alongside al Qaeda in Abyan before siding with the government. At least\u00a050 people were killed<\/a>\u00a0by shrapnel from the blast.<\/p>\n

* All but one of these actions have taken place during\u00a0<\/em>Obama\u2019s presidency. Reports of incidents in Yemen often conflate individual strikes. The range in the total strikes and total drone strikes we have recorded reflects this.<\/em><\/p>\n

<\/em>Somalia<\/strong><\/p>\n

August 2012 actions<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n

Total reported US operations:\u00a00<\/strong>
\n<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

All actions 2007 \u2013 August 31 2012<\/strong><\/p>\n

Total US operations:\u00a010-21<\/strong>
\nTotal US drone strikes:\u00a03-9
\n<\/strong>Total reported killed:\u00a058-169
\n<\/strong>Civilians reported killed:\u00a011-57<\/strong>
\nChildren reported killed:\u00a01-3<\/strong>
\nClick here for the Bureau\u2019s full data on Somalia<\/a>.<\/em><\/div>\n

August was the fourth consecutive month in which there have been no reports of US strikes. Concerns remain that covert operations continue in the country, in support of African Union Mission in Somalia (Amisom)\u00a0peacekeepers fighting al Shabaab.<\/p>\n

In related news, in the build-up to Amisom\u2019s long-touted advance on militant-held Kismayo, the UN allowed Uganda to dispatch air support for the assaulting troops. Catastrophically\u00a0all but one of four helicopters<\/a>\u00a0sent by Kampala crashed into a Kenyan mountain. The losses cast doubt on the military capacity of African nations engaged in Somalia, and their ability to have carried out any of the 10 strikes recorded by the Bureau since 2007 that are not confirmed as US operations.<\/p>\n

Kismayo is the last deep-water port in al Shabaab\u2019s hands.\u00a0Its fall could prove decisive<\/a>\u00a0in the battle with the militants in the south. The assault was intended to start before August 20, the day of long-awaited parliamentary elections. However those elections dragged on into the final week of August when a parliamentary speaker was finally voted in. This has cleared the way for parliament to choose a president and for the eight year life of the Transitional Federal Government to end.<\/p>\n

Other conflicts: Israel and Egypt
\n<\/strong><\/p>\n

The US and Israel are the only countries known to have carried out targeted killings with drones, with the Israeli Defence Force (IDF) reported to have carried out a strike as early as 2004. Until now all known Israeli strikes have been within Gaza.\u00a0 On August 26\u00a0Ibrahim Owida Nasser Madan<\/strong>\u00a0was\u00a0killed in an explosion<\/a>\u00a0as he rode his motorbike through Egypt\u2019s Sinai desert. It was later reported by Israeli media that Madan had\u00a0died in an Israeli drone strike<\/a>\u00a0up to 15km inside Egypt. Both the IDF and Egyptian military\u00a0denied the claims<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The following is authored by Chris Woods and Jack Serle at The Bureau of Investigative Journalism. Reprinted here with permission.\u00a0 Pakistan: August sees the highest number of CIA strikes in\u00a0Pakistan\u00a0since October 2011. A number of senior militants are killed along with at least two named civilians. Yemen: At least 26 people are killed in five […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":86,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-16289","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"meta_box":{"disable_donate_message":"","custom_donate_message":"","subtitle":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16289","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/86"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16289"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16289\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16295,"href":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16289\/revisions\/16295"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16289"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16289"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16289"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=16289"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}