In late January 2008 the CIA launched missiles from

unmanned aerial vehicles An unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) or unmanned aircraft system (UAS), commonly known as a drone, is an aircraft with no human pilot, crew, or passengers onboard, but rather is controlled remotely or is autonomous.De Gruyter Handbook of Dron ...

at a house in

North Waziristan North Waziristan District (, ) is a Districts of Pakistan, district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province in Pakistan. It is the northern part of Waziristan, a mountainous region of northwest Pakistan, bordering Afghanistan and covering . The capital ...

where they believed a militant summit was taking place. '' The Bureau of Investigative Journalism'' reported that this was the first

drone strike Drone warfare is a form of warfare using Military drone, military drones or Military robot, military robots. The robots may be Telerobotics, remote controlled or have varying levels of Autonomous robot, autonomy during their mission. Types of ro ...

for which the

CIA The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA; ) is a civilian foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States tasked with advancing national security through collecting and analyzing intelligence from around the world and ...

did not seek approval from Pakistan before the strike.

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

, 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. 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, officially the State of Kuwait, is a country in West Asia and the geopolitical region known as the Middle East. It is situated in the northern edge of the Arabian Peninsula at the head of the Persian Gulf, bordering Iraq to Iraq–Kuwait ...

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 s ...

Abu Adel al-Kuwaiti Abu or ABU may refer to: Aviation * Airman Battle Uniform, a utility uniform of the United States Air Force * IATA airport code for A. A. Bere Tallo Airport in Atambua, Province of East Nusa Tenggara, Indonesia People * Abu (Arabic term), a kun ...

and another man

Abdel Ghaffar al-Darnawi Abdul (also transliterated as Abdal, Abdel, Abdil, Abdol, Abdool, or Abdoul; , ) is the most frequent transliteration of the combination of the Arabic word '' Abd'' (, meaning "Servant") and the definite prefix '' al / el'' (, meaning "the"). It ...

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

Arabic Arabic (, , or , ) is a Central Semitic languages, Central Semitic language of the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family spoken primarily in the Arab world. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) assigns lang ...

). The ''

Washington Post ''The Washington Post'', locally known as ''The'' ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'' or ''WP'', is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C., the national capital. It is the most widely circulated newspaper in the Washington m ...

'' reported that the

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

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 American independent academic publishing company founded in 1949. Under several imprints, the company offers scholarly books for the academic market, as well as trade books. The company also owns ...

, 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 = The Bureau of Investigative Journalism , 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 (), was a son of the Central Asian conqueror Timur, founder of the Timurid Empire. During his father's reign, Miran Shah was initially a powerful regio ...

, 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 in Pakistan Deaths by American drone strikes in Pakistan Assassinated al-Qaeda members 2008 in Pakistan