US strike kills five foreign fighters in North Waziristan

Unmanned US aircraft killed five foreign fighters during a strike in the Taliban-controlled tribal agency of North Waziristan.

Predator or Reaper strike aircraft targeted a safe house and a madrassa in the village of Machi Khel near Mir Ali. Five Uzbek fighters were reported killed and five more were wounded in the attack, Geo News reported.

The town of Mir Ali is a known stronghold of al Qaeda leader Abu Kasha al Iraqi, an Iraqi national who is also known as Abu Akash. He has close links to the Taliban, a senior US intelligence official told The Long War Journal in January 2007. He serves as the key link between al Qaeda's Shura Majlis, or executive council, and the Taliban.

His responsibilities have expanded to assisting in facilitating al Qaeda's external operations against the West, a senior US military intelligence official told The Long War Journal in October 2008.

Kasha commands two local Pakistani commanders, Imanullah and Haq Nawaz Dawar. These two commanders administer al Qaeda's network in Mir Ali. Kasha also has a working relationship and close communication with the Uzbek terror groups, including the Islamic Jihad Group (or the Islamic Jihad Union) run by Najimuddin al Uzbeki, who also operates out of North Waziristan.

The US has targeted Abu Kasha's network several times since the air campaign heated up in Pakistan's northwest. Abu Kasha was thought to have been killed in an attack in North Waziristan in October 2008, but Taliban fighters said he survived the strike and "is healthy and very much in his routine."

The last attack that targeted Abu Kasha's network took place on May 27, 2009. Twenty-five Taliban and al Qaeda operatives are reported to have been killed and several more were wounded in the strike.

Today's attack in North Waziristan is the first this month. The last attack took place on Aug. 27 in South Waziristan. The target was Waliur Rehman Mehsud, the new leader of the Taliban in South Waziristan, a US intelligence official told The Long War Journal.

Today's strike is the 36th attack inside Pakistan this year, which matches last year's total. Of the 36 US strikes carried out in Pakistan this year, 25 have taken place in South Waziristan.

About a month ago, the US killed former Pakistani Taliban leader Baitullah Mehsud in an Aug. 5 strike that also killed his wife and several members of his bodyguard. He has been replaced as the leader of the Movement of the Taliban in Pakistan by Hakeemullah Mehsud.

Background on US strikes against al Qaeda and Taliban networks in northwestern Pakistan

US intelligence believes that 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 also has targeted al Qaeda-linked Taliban fighters operating in Afghanistan, particularly the notorious Haqqani Network.

As of summer 2008, al Qaeda and the Taliban operated 157 known training camps in the tribal areas and the Northwest Frontier Province. 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 unit 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 those 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 five 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 a member of al Qaeda's top council, was 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 Year's Day strike in South Waziristan. Kini was al Qaeda's 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:

For a summary of US strikes inside Pakistan in 2008, see US strikes in 2 villages in South Waziristan.

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Find related articles: Al Qaeda, Pakistan

READER COMMENTS: "US strike kills five foreign fighters in North Waziristan"

Posted by Marlin at September 7, 2009 9:33 PM ET:

The Uzbek flavor has been removed from later versions of the news story.

At least seven people killed including two Arab citizens while five persons were injured as US drone strikes two missiles in tehisl Mir Ali of South Waziristan Agency late on Monday
[...]

two missiles were fired from unmanned plane of US in Michikhel area of SWA's Mir Ali agency, which hit hideout of Taliban commander Ilyas Kashmiri and as a result, seven persons lost their lives meanwhile in the attack, five other persons sustained injuries.

Two Arab nationals are also among killed persons while two belonged to Punjab province and three were locals, sources said.

Taliban commander was also killed in the attack, according to unconfirmed reports.

Geo TV: Seven perish as US drone strikes in SWA

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