In late January 2008 the CIA launched missiles from

unmanned aerial vehicles An unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), commonly known as a drone, is an aircraft without any human pilot, crew, or passengers on board. UAVs are a component of an unmanned aircraft system (UAS), which includes adding a ground-based controller ...

at a house in

North Waziristan North Waziristan District ( ps, شمالي وزیرستان ولسوالۍ, ur, ) is a district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province in Pakistan. It is the northern part of Waziristan, a mountainous region of northwest Pakistan, bordering Afghanist ...

where they believed a militant summit was taking place. ''

The Bureau of Investigative Journalism ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...

'' reported that this was the first

drone strike Drone warfare is a form of aerial warfare using unmanned combat aerial vehicles (UCAV) or weaponized commercial unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV). The United States, United Kingdom, Israel, China, South Korea, Iran, Italy, France, India, Pakista ...

for which the

CIA The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA ), known informally as the Agency and historically as the Company, is a civilian intelligence agency, foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States, officially tasked with gat ...

did not seek approval from Pakistan before the strike.

Targeted killing Targeted killing is a form of murder or assassination carried out by governments outside a judicial procedure or a battlefield. Since the late 20th century, the legal status of targeted killing has become a subject of contention within and betw ...

, another site that focused on tracking the outcomes of drone strikes, reported that there was a lot of confusion as to who was killed, who owned the house that was destroyed, and the exact date of the strike. Initially security officials, claimed the most senior target had been Abu Yahya al Libi, until al Qaeda announced it had been

Abu Laith al Libi Ali Ammar Ashur al-Raqiai, known as Abu Laith al-Libi ( ar, أبو الليث الليبي, January 1, 1967 – January 29, 2008, Mir Ali), was a senior leader of the al-Qaeda movement in Afghanistan who appeared in several al-Qaeda vide ...

. On February 5, 2008, ''

Adnkronos Adnkronos is an Italian news agency. History and profile Adnkronos was established in 1963 by a merger of two agencies, ''Kronos'' (founded in 1951) and ''Agenzia Di Notizie'' (founded in 1959). The agency is based in Rome. Adnkronos is owned ...

'' named other militants were killed:

Kuwait Kuwait (; ar, الكويت ', or ), officially the State of Kuwait ( ar, دولة الكويت '), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated in the northern edge of Eastern Arabia at the tip of the Persian Gulf, bordering Iraq to the nort ...

is,

Abu Obeida Tawari al-Obeidi In late January 2008 the CIA launched missiles from unmanned aerial vehicles at a house in North Waziristan where they believed a militant summit was taking place. ''The Bureau of Investigative Journalism'' reported that this was the first drone st ...

Abu Adel al-Kuwaiti Abu or ABU may refer to: Places * Abu (volcano), a volcano on the island of Honshū in Japan * Abu, Yamaguchi, a town in Japan * Ahmadu Bello University, a university located in Zaria, Nigeria * Atlantic Baptist University, a Christian university ...

and another man

Abdel Ghaffar al-Darnawi Abdul (also Romanization of Arabic, transliterated as Abdal, Abdel, Abdil, Abdol, Abdool, or Abdoul; ar, عبد ال, ) is the most frequent transliteration of the combination of the Arabic word ''Abd (Arabic), Abd'' (, meaning "Servant") and th ...

. The '' Daily Times'' reported that the dead included ''five men who spoke the language of Mohammed"'' (i.e.

Arabic Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic languages, Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C ...

). The ''

Washington Post ''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large nati ...

'' reported that the

guesthouse A guest house (also guesthouse) is a kind of lodging. In some parts of the world (such as the Caribbean), guest houses are a type of inexpensive hotel-like lodging. In others, it is a private home that has been converted for the exclusive use o ...

that was targeted belonged to Abdul Sattar, a taxi driver. They quoted neighbors who pointed out that knowing members of the Taliban was not a crime, in Pakistan. Other sources described Sattar as an elder, who was also a member of a gang that engaged in kidnappings for ransom and car thefts. ''The World Almanac of Islamism: 2014'' cited al-Obeidi as an example of a Kuwaiti who had assumed a significant role in al Qaeda's leadership.

References

{{Reflist, refs= {{cite news , url=http://www.adnkronos.com/AKI/English/Security/?id=1.0.1845929971 , title=Terrorism: Three al-Qaeda leaders killed in US attack , publisher=

, date=February 5, 2008 , accessdate=2008-02-06 , archivedate = 2013-06-27 , archiveurl = https://web.archive.org/web/20130627140448/http://www.adnkronos.com/AKI/English/Security/?id=1.0.1845929971 , url-status = live {{cite book , url = https://books.google.com/books?id=9fQ3AwAAQBAJ&dq=Abu+Obeida+Tawari+al-Obeidi&pg=PA225 , title = The World Almanac of Islamism: 2014 , author = American Foreign Policy Council , author-link = American Foreign Policy Council , publisher =

Rowman & Littlefield Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group is an independent publishing house founded in 1949. Under several imprints, the company offers scholarly books for the academic market, as well as trade books. The company also owns the book distributing compa ...

, date = 2014 , page = 213 , location = , isbn = 9781442231443 , quote = Operatives of Kuwaiti origin consequently have grown into significant actors within the core al-Qaeda organization in Pakistan, playing both logistical and operational roles. {{cite news , url = https://www.thebureauinvestigates.com/namingthedead/strikes/b12/?lang=en , title = North Waziristan 29/01/2008 , publisher =

, archiveurl = https://web.archive.org/web/20140327204105/http://www.thebureauinvestigates.com/namingthedead/strikes/b12/?lang=en , archivedate = 2014-03-27 , accessdate = 2015-05-29 , url-status = live , quote = Both civilians and senior militants died in this strike, which targeted a number of them as they met. The drones came at 1.15am targeting an ‘Al Qaeda summit’ held in Madad Khan (or Abdul Sattar)’s house {{cite news , url = http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2008\01\30\story_30-1-2008_pg1_4 , title = 12 militants killed in North Waziristan missile strike , publisher = Daily Times , date = 2008-01-30 , location =

Miran Shah Mirza Jalal-ud-din Miran Shah Beg (1366 – 20 April 1408), commonly known as Miran Shah ( fa, میران شاہ), was a son of the Central Asian conqueror Timur, founder of the Timurid Empire. During his father's reign, Miran Shah was initi ...

, archiveurl = https://web.archive.org/web/20120118100702/http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2008%5C01%5C30%5Cstory_30-1-2008_pg1_4 , archivedate = 2012-01-18 , accessdate = 2015-05-29 , url-status = dead , quote = A militant source told Daily Times by phone that five men “speaking the language of the holy Quran” were among the dead, suggesting that Arab militants were among the victims. {{cite news , url = http://targetedkilling.org/index.php/strikes/11 , title = Date: 29th January 2008 , publisher =

, archiveurl = https://web.archive.org/web/20150529142311/http://targetedkilling.org/index.php/strikes/11 , archivedate = 2015-05-29 , url-status = live , quote = According to Adnkronos, the attack that killed Abu Laith al Libi in Pakistan is reported to have also killed three other leaders from the terrorist network. The report, which cites Kuwaiti Daily, said the attack was aimed at what was believed to have been an al Qaeda summit meeting. Abu Obeida Tawari al Obeidi and Abu Adel al Kuwaiti were reportedly there with al Libi. This article also mentioned that the drone strike occurred on January 25. {{cite news , url = https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/01/29/AR2008012903173.html , title = 12 Die in Missile Attack in Pakistan , newspaper =

, author = Imtiaz Ali , date = 2008-01-30 , page = , location = , accessdate = 2015-01-01 , quote = Hasan said he was a friend of the villager whose home was struck, Abdul Sattar, a cabdriver. "Having ties with the Taliban is not a sin, and if somebody is accusing Sattar of any ties with the Taliban, then we are all culprits," an emotional Hasan said from the madrassa, or religious school, where he teaches. January 2008 events in Pakistan Deaths by United States drone strikes in Pakistan Assassinated al-Qaeda members 2008 in Pakistan