Two CIA drone strikes killed eight militants holding German citizenship in north Waziristan Monday, Reuters cites Pakistani intelligence officials. The report goes on to suggest the recent elevated terror warning for Americans traveling in Europe is based on the interrogation of a possibly linked Afghan-German citizen identified as Ahmed Sidiqi being held by the U.S. military at Bagram Air base since July:
The militants were members of a group called Jihad Islami, the Pakistani intelligence officials said without elaborating. There was no independent verification and militants often dismiss official reports of successful operations against them. ...
One security official in Germany said last week word of the plot had probably originated from the interrogation of a German-Afghan suspect in Afghanistan.
The suspect believed to be behind the intelligence was identified by media as Ahmed Sidiqi, a German of Afghan origin. German media said he came from Hamburg and had been held in the U.S. military prison of Bagram in Afghanistan since July.
German counter-terrorism expert Guido Steinberg told Reuters Sidiqi was a member of a cell of militants from Hamburg that was believed to be a central component of the conspiracy.
Steinberg said the cell left for Pakistan in March 2009 and joined Pakistan-based members of the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU), a Central Asian militant organization.
CNN reported the 11-strong group included a German of Syrian descent and a German of Iranian descent while an associate of the plot was a Frenchman of Algerian origin, it said
Sidiqi divulged new, unverified information every day, CNN reported German intelligence sources as saying. ...
More from the New York Times.
What is Pakistan's continuing excuse for not being able to execute sovereign authority in FATA (The Islamic Emirate of Waziristan)?
NYT, Dec 15 2009:
The report said the reason for Pakistan's calculation is a lack of faith in Obama's troops surge and a need to position itself in any regional adjustment that might start once the Americans begin to withdraw from Afghanistan. In such a situation, Haqqani and his fighters, who control large areas of Afghanistan, would be critical for Pakistan as it would also involve its main rival India as well as Russia, China and Iran
Bill Gertz, April 2009:
"It has been unclear whether all elements of ISI have dropped their support of the Taliban and their extremist allies," Army Lt. Gen. Karl Eikenberry told a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing on his nomination to be ambassador to Afghanistan.
That is called understatement comedy.
It's odd for Pete Seger's anti war words to come to mind.....
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Newsmax: Key al Qaeda Operative Killed in Pakistan by U.S. Drone Saturday, 04 Jun 2011 08:47 AM ISLAMABAD, June 4 (Reuters) - Senior al Qaeda operative Ilyas Kashmiri, regarded as one of the most dangerous militants in the world, was killed by a U.S....
- Pakistan Tells U.s. To Halt Drones
From the Wall Street Journal: Pakistan has privately demanded the Central Intelligence Agency suspend drone strikes against militants on its territory, one of the U.S.'s most effective weapons against al Qaeda and Taliban leaders, officials said....
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Newsmax: Drone Strikes Thwart European Terror Plot Tuesday, 28 Sep 2010 WASHINGTON – Some missile strikes in a recent surge of attacks by unmanned U.S. drones in Pakistan were aimed at disrupting suspected terrorist plots aimed at Europe, a Western...
- Drones Gone Wild
AFP: US missiles kill 10 militants in Pakistan: officials By Hasbanullh Khan (AFP) – 4 hours ago MIRANSHAH, Pakistan — US missiles destroyed a compound used by Islamist fighters in Pakistan's tribal belt on Thursday, killing at least 10 militants...
