The Chenagai airstrike took place on October 30, 2006, around 5:00 am local time. Missiles were fired at a

madrassa Madrasa (, also , ; Arabic: مدرسة , pl. , ) is the Arabic word for any type of educational institution, secular or religious (of any religion), whether for elementary instruction or higher learning. The word is variously transliterated '' ...

in Chenagai village in

Bajaur Bajaur District ( ps, باجوړ ولسوالۍ, ur, ) is a district in Malakand Division of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province in Pakistan. Until 2018, it was an agency of the Federally Administered Tribal Areas, then during restructuring that merged ...

region of Pakistan. An eyewitness has stated that the madrassa was filled with local students who had resumed studies after the Eid ul-Fitr holiday. 82 people died in the attack. The United States was accused of the attacks. The U.S. government denied involvement in the attack. Long War Journal blamed U.S. for the air strike as only U.S. was able to conduct precision night strikes in the region. The role of United States in the airstrike was confirmed later on.

Background

In January 2006,

US forces The United States Armed Forces are the military forces of the United States. The armed forces consists of six service branches: the Army, Marine Corps, Navy, Air Force, Space Force, and Coast Guard. The president of the United States is the ...

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,; prs, امارت اسلامی افغانستان is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. Referred to as the Heart of Asia, it is bordere ...

carried out an airstrike in Bajaur's Damadola village which US officials tried to cover up by saying it was aimed at al-Qaeda's second-in-command,

Ayman al-Zawahiri Ayman Mohammed Rabie al-Zawahiri (June 19, 1951 – July 31, 2022) was an Egyptian-born terrorist and physician who served as the second emir of al-Qaeda from June 16, 2011, until his death. Al-Zawahiri graduated from Cairo University with a ...

. However, Al-Zawahiri never went to

The airstrike

The attack took place in Chenagai village near the town of

Khar Khar may refer to: Places * Khar, Mumbai, a suburb of Mumbai, India * Khar, Punjab, a town in the Punjab Province, Pakistan * Khar, Bajaur, a town in the Bajaur Agency of the Federally Administered Tribal Areas, Pakistan * Khar, Nepal, a vill ...

, the main town in Bajaur region. The leader of the

, cleric Maulana Liaqat Ullah Hussain, was suspected to be sheltering al-Qaeda militants and was among the dead. Locals said the missiles were fired by the US drones.

U.S. involvement

According to the

American Broadcasting Company The American Broadcasting Company (ABC) is an American commercial broadcast television network. It is the flagship property of the ABC Entertainment Group division of The Walt Disney Company. The network is headquartered in Burbank, Calif ...

, the attack was launched by a MQ-1 Predator with

as its intended target. However, the report's author has since been removed from

ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster ** Disney–ABC Television ...

's site due to questions concerning the reliability of his reporting. Pakistani officials have said that the strike was conducted by the U.S. and that they have also requested the U.S. not to violate their sovereignty again. Local people said the victims included boys as young as 12. Long War Journal, after conducting analysis of the strike, said the strike was indeed carried out by U.S. as Pakistan does not possess capabilities to conduct precision night strikes. The role of United States in the airstrike was confirmed later on.

Reaction

There were angry reactions in response to the strike. Many Muslim groups have condemned the action.

Siraj-ul-Haq Siraj ul Haq ( ur, سراج الحق; born 5 September 1962) is a Pakistani politician who was elected as the chief of Jamaat-e-Islami, a religious political party in Pakistan which seeks to establish an Islamic legal system. He also served as ...

, the senior Minister and Provincial Chief of the

Jamaat-e-Islami Jamaat-e-Islami ( ur, ) () is an Islamic movement founded in 1941 in British India by the Islamic theologian and socio-political philosopher, Syed Abul Ala Maududi.van der Veer P. and Munshi S. (eds.''Media, War, and Terrorism: Responses fro ...

party, resigned from the provincial cabinet in protest against the strikes. Sahibzada Haroonur Rashid, MNA (Member of National Assembly) from Bajaur Agency, also resigned from the National Assembly in protest.

Retaliation

Following attacks against the madrasa in the Bajaur tribal agency, on November 8, 2006, a

suicide bomber A suicide attack is any violent attack, usually entailing the attacker detonating an explosive, where the attacker has accepted their own death as a direct result of the attacking method used. Suicide attacks have occurred throughout histor ...

killed 42 Pakistani soldiers and injured 20 others in

Dargai Dargai ( ps, درگئی; ur, ) is one of the tehsils of Malakand District (the other being Batkhela) in Pakistan's northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. It located on the main highway from Peshawar to Swat, Dir and Chitral. The town of ...

, 85 miles north-west of Islamabadbr>
It has already called the deadliest attack by the militants on the army since it began operations against pro-Taliban and al-Qaeda force

Though no one has claimed responsibility as yet, the attack has been linked to the Bajaur militant

References