US Kills al-Qaeda Deputy, But Questions Remain Over Drone Policy

June 06, 2012 from ABC News (Australia)

The US government says a drone strike in Pakistan has killed Al Qaeda's second-in-command, Abu Yahya al-Libi. But there are also growing questions about the civilian toll caused by such attacks, as well as concerns over the precedent being set of using unmanned aircraft to carry out targetted killings on foreign soil.

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Abu Yahya al-Libi

Abu Yahya al-Libi, born Mohamed Hassan Qaid, was an Islamist terrorist and leading high-ranking official within al-Qaeda, and an alleged member of the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group. He is believed to have been able to speak Urdu, Pashto and Arabic and to have used the aliases ... Explore this topic

Drone attacks in Pakistan

The United States government has made hundreds of attacks on targets in northwest Pakistan since 2004 using drones controlled by the American Central Intelligence Agency's Special Activities Division. These attacks are part of the United States' War on Terror campaign, seeking... Explore this topic

US-Pakistan relations

Pakistan – United States relations or Pakistan-American relations, refers to the international, historical, and cultural bilateral relationship between the State of Pakistan and the United States, with both countries first establishing diplomatic relations on October 20, 1947,... Explore this topic

North Waziristan

North Waziristan is the northern part of Waziristan, a mountainous region of northwest Pakistan, bordering Afghanistan and covering 11,585 square kilometres. Waziristan comprises the area west and south-west of Peshawar between the Kurram River to the north and the Gomal River... Explore this topic

Drone

An unmanned aerial vehicle, commonly known as a drone, is an aircraft without a human pilot on board. Its flight is controlled either autonomously by computers in the vehicle, or under the remote control of a pilot on the ground or in another vehicle. There are a wide variety ... Explore this topic

Pakistan

Pakistan, officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a sovereign country in South Asia. With a population exceeding 180 million people, it is the sixth most populous country in the world. Located at the crossroads of the strategically important regions of South Asia, Cent... Explore this topic

Al-Qaeda

Al-Qaida ist ein loses, weltweit operierendes Terrornetzwerk meist sunnitischer dschihadistischer Organisationen, das seit 1993 zahlreiche Terroranschläge in mehreren Staaten verübt hat, und mit zahlreichen weltpolitischen Ereignissen im Zusammenhang steht. Viele der von dem N... Explore this topic

Predator drone

The General Atomics MQ-1 Predator is an unmanned aerial vehicle built by General Atomics and used primarily by the United States Air Force and Central Intelligence Agency. Initially conceived in the early 1990s for reconnaissance and forward observation roles, the Predator car... Explore this topic

US Government

The government of the United States of America is the federal government of the constitutional republic of fifty states that constitute the United States, as well as one capitol district, and several other territories. The federal government is composed of three distinct branc... Explore this topic

CIA

The Central Intelligence Agency is one of the principal intelligence-gathering agencies of the United States federal government. It is an executive agency and reports directly to the Director of National Intelligence, with responsibility for providing national security intelli... Explore this topic

Also See

Abu Yahya al-Libi

Drone attacks in Pakistan

US-Pakistan relations

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