168 children killed by CIA drones

MORE than 160 children have been killed by the CIA's covert drone programme in Pakistan over the past seven years, according to a new database detailing the strikes against al-Qaeda and Taleban targets.

The research, by the London-based Bureau of Investigative Journalism, found that 2,292 people had been killed by American missiles fired from unmanned aircraft flown by remote control. Of those, as many as 775 may have been civilians and 168 were children.

The controversial programme began under US president George W Bush but has rapidly accelerated since Barack Obama, a Nobel Peace Prize winner, came to power.

The attacks in Pakistan's lawless tribal belt along the border with Afghanistan have provoked widespread anger in a country which views American motives with suspicion.

Political leaders, such as the former cricketer Imran Khan, say the strikes are counter-productive and are radicalising a new generation.

In a single attack on a religious school in 2006 up to 69 children lost their lives.

The United Nations' children's agency Unicef condemned the findings.

It said: "Even one child death from drone missiles or suicide bombings is one child death too many.

"Children have no place in war, and all parties should do their utmost to protect children from violent attacks at all times."

Chris Woods, who led the research, said the detailed database of deaths would send shockwaves through Pakistan, where political and military leaders repeatedly denounce the strikes in public, while privately allowing the US to continue.

He said: "This is a military campaign run by a secret service which raised problems of accountability and transparency, and you have a situation where neither the Pakistanis nor Americans are clear about any agreements in place and where the reporting is difficult.

"All of this means that when things go wrong there is simply no redress for the families of those who have been mistakenly killed."

The research, culled from more than 2,000 news reports, leaked documents and witness statements, show how the drones gradually moved from being a rarely-used tool, beginning with a single strike in 2004, to a frontline weapon of war, building to a total of 291 attacks to date.

Notable successes include the death of Baitullah Mehsud, head of the Pakistan Taleban, in 2009.Ilyas Kashmiri, a senior al-Qaeda figure viewed as a possible successor to Osama bin Laden, is believed to have died in a drone strike in June.

Under President Obama the strikes have been used to target low-level foot soldiers as well as senior commanders.

Today the attacks are running at a rate of one every four days, mostly centred on North Waziristan from where members of the Haqqani network launch cross-border attacks on international forces in eastern Afghanistan.

On Wednesday this week, a single strike killed 21 militants in North Waziristan.

According to Pakistani intelligence officials, among those targeted in the attack on a house two miles east of the town of Miranshah were members of the Haqqani network responsible for the escalating insurgency in eastern Afghanistan, and foreign militants.

With Pakistan so far unwilling to bow to US pressure to launch a military offensive against the militant bases and ruling out any suggestion that American troops be deployed, that leaves the drones, said Imtiaz Gul, an analyst who has written extensively on the region.

He said: "The strikes really intensified in 2008 and reflect American frustration at Pakistani reluctance to go in to South Waziristan, which was the main target then."

At the same time, he added, they mean a president elected on a manifesto promising to close Guantanamo Bay does not have hundreds more detainees to process.

Human rights campaigners have long argued that drone attacks are in fact extra-judicial killings. Asia-Pacific director of Amnesty International Sam Zarifi said: "The Obama administration must explain the legal basis for drone strikes in Pakistan to avoid the perception that it acts with impunity."

The US refuses to acknowledge the existence of its drones programme, which is lead by the CIA, not the US military.

The programme is also a source of tension between the US state department and the intelligence agency.

It was revealed that on 17 March this year, US ambassador to Pakistan Cameron Munter attempted to halt a drone strike which he thought might "set back Washington's already shaky relations with Islamabad", according to a senior US source.