Hellfire hits Taliban training camp in Pakistan
NY Times:
With a three missile strike, it is very likely that the UAV involved was a Reaper rather than a Predator. The latter carries only two Hellfire missiles, but the Reaper can carry up to six.
Attacking Taliban training sites is good strategy. Making it difficult for them to prepare for attacks on our forces or that of our Pakistan allies should be a major objective. Hopefully they will be able to spot and fire on Mehsud. If they don't they will certainly effect his freedom of movement making his command and control less effective.
Bill Roggio says the training camp was for the Shadow Army made up of al Qaeda and Taliban fighters from both sides of the Afghan border.
Three missiles thought to have been fired from remotely piloted American aircraft struck a Taliban training camp in the Kurram area of northwestern Pakistan late on Thursday and killed 21 militants, according to a local government official and news reports on Friday.The Times makes the false claim that the attacks are unpopular in the region. As pointed out in a post yesterday, polling in the area finds that a majority support the attacks on the Taliban and al Qaeda.Nine other people were injured in the strike at around 9:30 p.m. to 10 p.m., directed at a training camp some 20 miles from Parachinar, the capital of the remote tribal area where 31 people were killed in a similar attack on Feb. 16., according to the official, who spoke in return for anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to reporters.
The camp was under the command of Fazal Saeed, a local militant commander aligned with Baitullah Mehsud who heads a militant network seeking to topple the beleaguered Pakistan government. The attacks on Mr. Mehsud’s camps over the past month represent an expansion by the Obama administration of the covert war run by the Central Intelligence Agency, carried out largely by drone aircraft.
...
The two attacks on camps run by Mr. Mehsud follow his decision to unite with two other militant commanders last month to launch joint attacks against NATO and American forces in Afghanistan.
...
With a three missile strike, it is very likely that the UAV involved was a Reaper rather than a Predator. The latter carries only two Hellfire missiles, but the Reaper can carry up to six.
Attacking Taliban training sites is good strategy. Making it difficult for them to prepare for attacks on our forces or that of our Pakistan allies should be a major objective. Hopefully they will be able to spot and fire on Mehsud. If they don't they will certainly effect his freedom of movement making his command and control less effective.
Bill Roggio says the training camp was for the Shadow Army made up of al Qaeda and Taliban fighters from both sides of the Afghan border.
Comments
Post a Comment