Yemen attack on Saudi Aramco Oil Facilities may affect 5% world oil supply

The Yemenese strike back hard: This time their target being the world's largest oil facilities in Saudi Arabia - the Aramco, a joint Saudi-USA establishment.

Yemen claims that 10 drones had been used in the attack, hitting the oil fields in Abqaiq and Khurais. The attack is likely to affect almost 5% drop in Saudi oil exports. And may cause crude prices to jump between $5 and $10 a barrel.

Watch a video by Al Jazeera network:

Saudi Energy Minister Prince Abdul Aziz bin Salman said that 5.7 million barrels a day of crude oil and gas production have been affected. The latest OPEC figures put total Saudi production at 9.8 million barrels per day.

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US drone fires two missiles in northwest Pakistan

While there is a wide spread condemnation of US drones violating Pakistan air space and targetting 'militants' inside Pakistan, there has been a fresh attack in which a US drone fried two missiles  in Pakistan's northwest tribal region tonight.

The missiles were fired in Miranshah, South Waziristan, media reports said. It was also not known whether anyone had been killed in the strikes.

The attack comes at a time when Pakistan and the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf-led government in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa has taken an increasingly anti-drone stance with regular sit-ins being organised to stop NATO supply lines.  

It may be recalled that a November 21 drone strike, which killed six people and injured eight others in the populated area of Hangu, had angered many people. 

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US drone kills 7 in Pakistan while New Cabinet of PM Sharif sworn in

Call it a coincidence or anything else, but a US drone strike killed seven in northwest Pakistan, while the new cabinet member of newly elected Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif were sworn in.

The strike came just two days after Sharif was sworn in for a historic third time and asked the United States to end its campaign of drone attacks against militants.

The missiles hit a compound in Shokhel village, more than 100 kilometres southwest of Miranshah, the main town of North Waziristan tribal district which is known as a stronghold of Taliban and al-Qaeda-linked militants.

"The US drone fired two missiles targeting a militant compound and killing at least seven militants", a senior local security official said.

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UK Admits Funding Poll in Pakistan on US Drone Attacks

Britain has been forced to admit that it has been funding surveys in Pakistan's Federally Administered Tribal Areas that reveal US drone strikes in the region are causing deep resentment among the local population, reports the Guardian.

In an answer to a parliamentary question, the foreign minister, Alistair Burt, confirmed that the Foreign Office had "supported" surveys which showed the proportion of respondents in the tribal areas who believed drone strikes were "never justified" had risen from 59% in 2010 to 63% in 2011.

It appears to be the first time that the government has revealed it has carried out opinion polls on the CIA drone campaign in Pakistan – a programme on which it has refused to comment publicly. Previously British ministers have said: "Drone strikes are a matter for the United States and Pakistan."

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American activists launch a month-long anti-drone campaign

Deadly drone attacks draw world wide condemnation and protests 

The growing awareness about the menace American drone attacks have created over the last one decade or even more, a month-long nationwide anti-drone campaign kicked off in New York, USA on Thursday, with a number of activist groups taking part in demonstrations to draw public attention to the use of unmanned aerial vehicle in Pakistan, Afghanistan and other countries.

It may be added that a recent survey has concluded that less than 2% (1.5% to be exact) high end militants have been actually killed, while most of the victims have either been children, won or 'suspected' militants claimed by USA.

Dozens of protesters from "Grandmothers Against the War" gathered in New York City to denounce the US government's use of drones. They chanted slogans and called placards like "Drones fly, children die."

The grandmothers' protest kicked off what participants say will be a month of rallies called 'April Days of Action', organized by the New York-based group 'Know Drones'.

You may also read: Join Anti Drone Days this April - Be part of voice against US drones killing children in Pakistan

Read more about it at: Business Recorder
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5 killed in North Waziristan by US drone attack

A US drone strike targeting a compound killed five persons in North Waziristan near the Afghan border on Wednesday, security officials said.

"Several US drones flew into the area before dawn and fired four missiles on a compound, killing five suspected militants," a security official told AFP after the strike in Hurmuz area, east of Miranshah, the capital of North Waziristan tribal region. Another security official in the northwestern city of Peshawar confirmed the attack and casualties.

Wednesday's strike is the 32nd of its kind (counted on daily basis) in 2012. So far this year at least 227 people have been killed in such strikes.

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Casualty figures are difficult to obtain, but a report commissioned by legal lobby group Reprieve estimated last month that 474 to 881 civilians were among 2,562 to 3,325 people killed by drones in Pakistan between June 2004 and September 2012.

Read more: The News

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US-Pakistan link 'challenging but essential'

The US-Pakistan relationship remains challenging for both despite the reopening of Pakistani land routes to resupply US troops in Afghanistan, US secretary of state Hillary Clinton said yesterday.

Mrs Clinton last week apologised for a November Nato air strike that killed 24 Pakistani soldiers, and Islamabad responded by reopening overland supply routes crucial to the US-led war in Afghanistan.

The supply-route deal removed one headache, but relations are likely to remain strained by other differences.

These include Pakistan’s opposition to US drone strikes against militants on Pakistani territory and Washington’s allegations that Islamabad condones, or even assists, anti-American militants.

Read more: Irish Times

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Drone strike kills four militants in North Waziristan

A US drone strike killed four suspected militants in North Waziristan on Monday evening, Express News reported.

The strike targeted a militant vehicle in the Datta Khel district, 30 kilometres (18 miles) west of Miranshah, the main town in North Waziristan. The drone had fired two missiles at a vehicle killing four militants, a security official told AFP.

Earlier on Monday, at least eight militants were killed when a US drone launched a missile attack in Mir Ali sub-division of North Waziristan Agency, security officials said on Monday.

The first attack took place in the Esokhel sub-division of Mir Ali when a US drone launched four missiles on a house which was under construction. Six militants, including five foreigners were killed.


Read more: Express Tribune

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US drone strike in Pakistan highlights divergent interests of US, Pakistan

Just after Pakistan's president left the NATO summit in Chicago earlier this week, a US drone killed four suspected militants in northwest Pakistan today. As the two countries attempt to reconcile, the attack is a reminder of disparate US and Pakistani interests.

Associated Press reports that today's strike targeted Datta Khel Kalai village in North Waziristan, according to Pakistani intelligence.

Pakistan has repeatedly demanded an end to the American drone campaign, and negotiations over the strikes have held up a deal to reopen NATO supply routes into Afghanistan, which Pakistan closed last year in retaliation for a US airstrike that killed two dozen Pakistani soldiers. 

Read more: The Christian Science Monitor

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CIA has suspended drone attacks in Pakistan, U.S. officials say

[ via Los Angeles Times ] 23 Dec

The collateral damage is much more than the claimed kill results

In an effort to mend badly frayed relations with Pakistan, the CIA has suspended drone missile strikes on gatherings of low-ranking militants believed to be involved in cross-border attacks on U.S. troops or facilities in Afghanistan, current and former U.S. officials say.

The undeclared halt in CIA attacks, now in its sixth week, is aimed at reversing a sharp erosion of trust after a series of deadly incidents, including the mistaken attack by U.S. gunships that killed 24 Pakistani soldiers last month.

Some State Department officials insist that airstrikes on low-level militants now hurt U.S. interests in Pakistan more than they help.

Read more: Los Angeles Times

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Drone attack that orphaned whole village

[via The Express Tribune ] 23 Dec

Noor Khan, a resident of North Waziristan, is determined not to let the killing of his father in a US drone strike go unquestioned.

Noor Khan (L) displays photo of his father killed in the drone attack

“My father was at a jirga to settle a dispute of a chromite mine. The problem was almost resolved, but during this time there was a drone attack and he was killed. Our whole village was orphaned because all the elders were killed,” Noor Khan told The Express Tribune.

Khan’s father was killed in March this year in what was said to be the deadliest US drone strike since 2006.  The attack killed 50 people, including five members of the local police, and a child.

Lawyer Shahzad Akbar, acting on behalf of Noor Khan, has sent a legal notice to British Foreign Secretary William Hague, to question the role of Britain in providing intelligence to the CIA-backed drone campaign.

British law firm Leigh Day & Co, in collaboration with British legal charity Reprieve, is handling the case in Britain.

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