The Long War Journal: US airstrike in Pakistan's Kurram tribal agency kills 30

Written by Bill Roggio on February 16, 2009 8:47 AM to The Long War Journal

Available online at: http://www.longwarjournal.org/archives/2009/02/us_airstrike_in_paki.php

The US appears to be expanding its campaign of cross-border strikes into Pakistan after several unmanned US Predator aircraft conducted multiple attacks in the Taliban-controlled tribal agency of Kurram.

More than 30 people have been reported killed after four Predator aircraft launched at least four Hellfire missiles at a training camp in the Sarpal region that is run by Bahram Khan Kochi, a commander of Taliban forces operating inside Afghanistan, Geo News reported. The toll is expected to rise, as more bodies are thought to be under the rubble.

No senior al Qaeda or Taliban commanders have been reported killed at this time.

The Taliban have expanded their control into Kurram by backing the wave of sectarian fighting between Sunni and Shia in the region. The Shia have been forced into small enclaves in Parachinar and other areas as the Pakistani military has refused to come to their aid.

The Taliban have used Kurram as a training ground for their forces and have established several bases in the agency, an intelligence official familiar with the situation in Pakistan's tribal areas told The Long War Journal on the condition of anonymity.

The Taliban in Kurram are led by Hakeemullah Mehsud, a rising star in the Pakistani Taliban. Hakeemullah is senior lieutenant and cousin of Pakistani Taliban leader Baitullah Mehsud; he is also a cousin of Qari Hussain Mehsud, the notorious Taliban commander who trains child suicide bombers in South Waziristan.

Hakeemullah has been leading operations against NATO's supply lines in Khyber and Peshawar. He also commands the Taliban in the Arakzai and Khyber tribal agencies.

Today's strike is the second by the US inside Pakistan in three days. A strike on Feb. 14 killed more than 25 Uzbek, al Qaeda, and Taliban fighters in South Waziristan.

The Kurram strike is also the first reported attack inside the Kurram tribal agency. Prior attacks have focused on al Qaeda and Taliban compounds in the tribal agencies of North and South Waziristan as well as in Bajaur. One strike took place in Bannu, a region outside of the tribal areas.

The recent airstrikes in South Waziristan and Kurram are also the first since Senator Dianne Feinstein, the chairwoman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, disclosed that the CIA was operating a covert air base that is used to conduct the attacks inside Pakistan. The Pakistani government has denied the existence of the base. But unlike previous attacks, no senior leader in the government or the military protested the strikes.

Background on US strikes against al Qaeda and the Taliban's networks in Northwestern Pakistan

US intelligence believes al Qaeda has reconstituted its external operations network in Pakistan's lawless, Taliban-controlled tribal areas. This network is tasked with hitting targets in the West, India, and elsewhere. The US has struck at these external cells using unmanned Predator aircraft and other means in an effort to disrupt al Qaeda's external network and decapitate the leadership. The US has also targeted al Qaeda-linked Taliban fighters operating in Afghanistan, particularly the notorious Haqqani Network.

As of last summer, al Qaeda and the Taliban operated 157 known training camps. Al Qaeda has been training terrorists holding Western passports to conduct attacks, US intelligence officials have told The Long War Journal. Some of the camps are devoted to training the Taliban's military arm, some train suicide bombers for attacks in Pakistan and Afghanistan, some focus on training the various Kashmiri terror groups, some train al Qaeda operatives for attacks in the West, some train the Lashkar al Zil, al Qaeda's Shadow Army, and one serves as a training ground for the Black Guard, the elite bodyguard for Osama bin Laden, Ayman al Zawahiri, and other senior al Qaeda leaders.

There were 36 recorded cross-border attacks and attempts in Pakistan during 2008, according to numbers compiled by The Long War Journal. Twenty-nine of these attacks took place after Aug. 31. There were only 10 recorded strikes in 2006 and 2007 combined.

During 2008, the US strikes inside Pakistan's tribal areas killed five senior al Qaeda leaders. All of the leaders were involved in supporting al Qaeda's external operations directed at the West.

Abu Laith al Libi, a senior military commander in Afghanistan, was killed in a strike in North Waziristan in January 2008.

Abu Sulayman Jazairi, al Qaeda’s external operations chief, was killed in a strike in Bajaur in March 2008.

Abu Khabab al Masri, al Qaeda's weapons of mass destruction chief, and several senior members of his staff were killed in a strike in South Waziristan in July 2008.

Khalid Habib, the leader of al Qaeda's paramilitary Shadow Army, was killed in a region controlled by Baitullah Mehsud in South Waziristan in October 2008.

Abu Jihad al Masri, the leader of the Egyptian Islamic Group and member of al Qaeda's top council, was also killed in North Waziristan in October 2008.

In 2009, US strikes have killed two senior, long-time al Qaeda leaders. Osama al Kini and his senior aide, Sheikh Ahmed Salim Swedan were killed in a New Years Day strike in South Waziristan. Kini was al Qaeda operations chief in Pakistan. Both men were behind the 1998 bombings of the US embassies in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, and Nairobi, Kenya, which killed 224 civilians and wounded more than 5,000 others.

US attacks inside Pakistan during 2009:

• US airstrike in Pakistan's Kurram tribal agency kills 30
Feb. 16, 2009
• US Predator strike in South Waziristan kills 25
Feb. 14, 2009
• US strikes al Qaeda in North and South Waziristan
Jan. 23, 2009
• US hits South Waziristan in second strike
Jan. 2, 2009
• US kills four al Qaeda operatives in South Waziristan strike
Jan. 1, 2009

For a summary of US strikes inside Pakistan in 2008, see US strikes in two villages in South Waziristan.