drones

Stories 401 - 420 | << Prev   Next >>

CIA Terminates Blackwater Deal
 CIA Terminates Blackwater Deal 
Dec 11, 2009 9:37 PM CST

CIA Terminates Blackwater Deal

Security firm helped load killer drones in Afghanistan, Pakistan

(Newser) - The Central Intelligence Agency has severed ties with private security firm Blackwater, whose employees helped load the drone aircraft tasked with killing targets in Afghanistan and Pakistan. CIA chief Leon Panetta killed the contract, a rep tells the New York Times , which was instrumental in revealing the firm’s ties...

US Claims to Kill al-Qaeda Leader in Drone Strike

But the attack in Waziristan never took place, says Pakistan

(Newser) - A US drone has taken out an al-Qaeda commander that US officials describe as "top-ranking," reports NBC News . No name was released, though officials said that the strike in South Waziristan claimed four lives and injured four more—though Osama bin Laden was not among them. Officials cited...

Pakistan Escalation on the Hush-Hush
Pakistan Escalation on the Hush-Hush
ANALYSIS
Dec 2, 2009 3:58 AM CST

Pakistan Escalation on the Hush-Hush

Obama quietly striving to step up CIA campaign

(Newser) - President Obama aims to step up operations in Pakistan as well as Afghanistan, but he won't be making any speeches about it. The president has quietly authorized an expansion of the CIA campaign against militants but he's still trying to get the green light from the "weak, divided, suspicious"...

Suicide Bomb Kills 19 at Pakistan Courthouse

Region hit with seventh militant attack in two weeks

(Newser) - A suicide bombing outside a Peshawar courthouse killed 19 people this morning in Pakistan, the latest in a series of attacks by Islamic militants reacting against an anti-Taliban army offensive in the region. Today's bombing came only hours after missiles fired from a suspected US drone killed three alleged militants...

Dozens Dead in Pakistan Blast
 Dozens Dead in Pakistan Blast 
UPDATED
Nov 2, 2009 5:42 AM CST

Dozens Dead in Pakistan Blast

Suicide bomber duo injure 40 near bank

(Newser) - A pair of suicide bomb blasts rocked Pakistan today, killing at least 26 people. Two bombers on motorcycles blew themselves up near a queue outside a Rawalpindi bank close to army headquarters, injuring 60, many of them women and children. "There were many people lying on the ground with...

Clinton: Pakistan Has to Fight
 Clinton: Pakistan Has to Fight 
Oct 29, 2009 6:57 AM CDT

Clinton: Pakistan Has to Fight

Terrorism fight a no-brainer, she tells students

(Newser) - Hillary Clinton said today that Pakistan had little choice but to take a more aggressive approach, starting last summer, in combating the Taliban and other extremists that threaten to destabilize the country. In a lively give-and-take with students at the Government College of Lahore, Clinton said inaction by the government...

UN to US: Drone Attacks Could Be Unlawful

Human rights watchdog wants more accountability from CIA in Pakistan

(Newser) - A UN human rights watchdog has some strong misgivings about the CIA drone attacks on suspected terrorists in Pakistan that have killed 600 people since last year. "Extralegal executions" are a violation of international law, Philip Alston tells the BBC. “These Predators are being operated in a framework...

US Drones Back Up Pakistani Offensive

Predators offer intel on militant positions in South Waziristan

(Newser) - The US military is supporting the Pakistani offensive against Taliban militants in South Waziristan with intelligence and imaging collected by unmanned Predator drones. The support is separate from the CIA program using the drones inside Pakistan to kill terrorist leaders. “We are coordinating with the Pakistanis,” a military...

Taliban Chief Cracks Jokes, Vows Revenge
 Taliban Chief Cracks 
 Jokes, Vows Revenge 
Interview
Oct 6, 2009 6:48 AM CDT

Taliban Chief Cracks Jokes, Vows Revenge

Media sitdown dispells rumors Hakimullah Mehsud is dead

(Newser) - Hakimullah Mehsud met with reporters Sunday for the first time since winning control of Pakistan's Taliban, quashing speculation that he had been slain in a succession struggle following his predecessor's death in a US drone attack. Flanked by heavily armed fighters, the new leader sat on a blue blanket, in...

Obama May Boost Drones Instead of Troops

Shifting focus to Pakistan may avoid increasing forces

(Newser) - The White House is looking at expanding counterterror operations in Pakistan as an alternative to a major military escalation in Afghanistan, two senior officials tell the AP. The military would rely on armed drones that could contain al-Qaeda in a smaller, if more remote, area and keep its leaders from...

Taliban Finally Confirm Mehsud's Death

(Newser) - Weeks after a US drone reportedly took out the Taliban's leader in Pakistan, Baitullah Mehsud's fellow commanders have confirmed his death. Two Taliban officials—including his successor, Hakimullah Mehsud—tell the BBC that their leader actually died Sunday after being critically injured in the airstrike. The development also clears up...

CIA Uses Blackwater to Help Run Drone Attacks

(Newser) - The CIA has relied on a secret division inside the company once known as Blackwater for its drone operations in Pakistan and Afghanistan, private employees and government officials tell the New York Times. The for-profit company assembles and loads Hellfire missiles and quarter-ton bombs on secret CIA bases on both...

Officials: Taliban's Mehsud Is Dead

(Newser) - Pakistani officials have confirmed the death of Baitullah Mehsud, the Pakistani Taliban leader, in an American drone strike early Wednesday. While there is still no concrete evidence of his death, the country's foreign minister said today that "he has been taken out." One security official told the New ...

US Drone May Have Killed Taliban Leader Mehsud

(Newser) - Potentially big news out of Pakistan: A US drone may have killed Pakistani Taliban chief Baitullah Mehsud, reports Reuters. "There is reason to believe that reports of his death may be true, but it can't be confirmed at this time," said an anonymous US official. Mehsud is an...

US Missile Kills Son of Bin Laden
US Missile
Kills Son of
Bin Laden
Jul 22, 2009 6:58 PM CDT

US Missile Kills Son of Bin Laden

Officials think drone strike hit him in Pakistan

(Newser) - The US is pretty sure that an American missile killed Osama bin Laden's son in Pakistan, reports NPR. Spy agencies are "80 to 85%" certain that a missile from a US drone killed Saad bin Laden, thought to be in his late 20s, sometime in the last year. Saad...

Taliban Buys Kids for Suicide Bombings

(Newser) - The Taliban is buying children as young as 7 and turning them into suicide bombers, the Washington Times reports. The going rate is $7,000 to $14,000, a huge amount in Pakistan, where where the average income is $2,600. Pakistani and US officials lay blame for the practice...

US Drone Kills 60 in Pakistan; May Be Deadliest Ever

(Newser) - The American hunt for Taliban leader Baitullah Mehsud—implicated, among other things, in the assassination of Benazir Bhutto—took two major twists today in Pakistan. Early reports suggest that a US military drone killed about 60 suspected militants after the funeral of an insurgent commander in South Waziristan near the...

US, Pakistani Attacks Have Rattled Al-Qaeda: Analysts

(Newser) - Recent US and Pakistani efforts have rattled al-Qaeda, intelligence officials tell the Washington Post, with unmanned drones having killed about half of the US’ 20 “high-value” al-Qaeda targets since last fall. Combined with Pakistan’s offensive against its Taliban allies in the Swat region, the terror group’s position...

US Offers Pakistan Key Control of Predator Missions

Joint US-Pakistan project seeks to bolster Pakistani government against Taliban

(Newser) - The US military has been flying armed Predator drones over Pakistan and has offered the Pakistani military significant control over the targets and missions, the Los Angeles Times reports. The program—separate from the CIA's drone missions, which Pakistan accuses of violating its sovereignty—began in recent weeks and is...

US Pinpoints New Drone Targets in Pakistan

Missile strikes evaluated as part of regional policy review

(Newser) - As the US reviews its controversial air strike program in Pakistan, US and Pakistani intelligence officials are adding new targets to its list, the Wall Street Journal reports. Pakistani officials hope that expanding the drone program to target extremists will win them public support; at the same time, the Obama...

Stories 401 - 420 | << Prev   Next >>