US Drone Crashes in Pakistan

[tekisui]

Source: DNA India

ISLAMABAD: A US drone reportedly crashed today in Pakistan's troubled tribal belt bordering Afghanistan, triggering claims by tribesmen that they had shot it down.

The drone crashed in Humzoni area of Datta Khel, four kilometres northwest of Miranshah, the main town of North Warisitan Agency, TV news channels reported.

Local residents said they had heard gunfire just before the drone crashed.

Tribesmen claimed they had shot down the pilotless aircraft.

The US has stepped up drone attacks in North Waziristan after a suicide bomber linked to the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan killed seven CIA operatives in an attack in neighbouring Khost district of Afghanistan last month.

The Humzoni area has witnessed over a dozen drone attacks in the past few weeks.

more: http://www.dnaindia.com/world/report_us-drone-crashes-in-pakistan_1338993

[tekisui]

1. 30 Pakistani intell officers have been killed in 2009

From: NTY

(snip)

The militants have responded with a wave of killings targeting people they suspect of helping facilitate the drone strikes, including six Pakistani men whose bodies were found in two different areas of North Waziristan on Monday.

Pakistani intelligence officials have said at least 30 of their operatives were killed in North Waziristan in 2009, many with notes attached to the bodies alleging they were U.S. spies.

The six bodies found Sunday had similar notes, said intelligence officials and residents.

The bodies of five men who had been fatally shot were found on the outskirts of Miran Shah, said the officials, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to the media.

Authorities found the body of a sixth man who had been beheaded near Mir Ali, another town in the tribal area, said resident Razaullah Wazir.

''This is the fate of American spies,'' said a note attached to the body written in the local Pashtu language, according to Wazir.

[EmeraldCityGrl]

2. But, but, McChrystal saz we're winning...

"When I sit in an area that the Taliban controlled only seven months ago and now you meet with a shura of elders and they describe with considerable optimism the future, you sense the tide is turning," he said.

McChrystal-1/2010-

[malaise]

5. They are all LIARS who profit

from war.

[tekisui]

3. I am surprised this story isn't getting more attention.

I am also perplexed that this program is such an open secret, a drone is possibly shot down, and it is hardly noticed?

[Ghost in the Machine]

4. How long before a bin Laden tape claims responsibility??

:shrug:

[Arctic Dave]

6. I wonder how much they will get for it from China or Russia.

I see a lot of guns and ammo heading their way.

[Leopolds Ghost]

7. How do you "trigger" claims? Either it was shot down or it wasn't.

This sounds like Washington Post / Howard Kurtz / Bob Woodward Sunday Morning Follies journalism.