LONDON: At least 2,200 people, including women and children, have been reported killed in CIA drone strikes in Pakistan, according to a new study by the London-based Bureau of Investigative Journalism in conjunction with The Express Tribune.
The dead include up to 21 alleged militants that were killed in North Waziristan on Wednesday.
The fundamental reassessment of US drone strikes has revealed there have been many more CIA attacks on alleged militant targets than previously reported. At least 291 US drone strikes are now known to have taken place since 2004.
The Bureau’s analysis also reveals that at least 2,292 people are credibly reported to have died – some 40% more deaths than generally claimed.
The intended targets of the CIA campaign – militants in the tribal areas – appear to make up the largest proportion of those killed. There are 126 named militants among the dead since 2004. But as many as 168 children have also been killed among at least 385 civilians.
More than 1,100 people are also revealed to have been injured in the US drone attacks – the first time this number has been gathered.
A counter-terrorism official revealed to the Bureau that internal US government figures record an estimated 2,050 people killed by the drone strikes, of whom all but 50 were militants. No ‘non-combatants’ – civilians – have been killed in Pakistan in the last year, the US official claimed.
Categories: Pakistan