against the government.”294 This, in contrast, was a jirga, a government-sanctioned meeting, held to ensure “no problems occurred in [the] area and no-one would pose problems for the government.”295 According to a Pakistani military commander in North Waziristan, Brigadier Abdullah Dogar, the maliks had even taken care to alert the local military post of the planned jirga ten days beforehand.296 At approximately 10:45 am, as the two groups were engaged in discussion, a missile fired from a US drone hovering above struck one of the circles of seated men.297 Ahmed Jan, who was sitting in one of two circles of roughly 20 men each, told our researchers that he remembered hearing the hissing sound the missiles made just seconds before they slammed into the center of his group.298 The force of the impact threw Jan’s body a significant distance, knocking him unconscious, and killing everyone else sitting in his circle.299 Several additional missiles were fired, at least one of which hit the second circle.300 In all, the missiles killed a total of at least 42 people.301 One of the survivors from the other circle, Mohammad Nazir Khan, told us that many of the dead appeared to have been killed by flying pieces of shattered rocks.302 Another witness, Idris Farid, recalled that “everything was devastated. There were pieces—body pieces—lying around. There was lots of flesh and blood.”303 Khalil Khan, the only son of Malik Hajji Babat, one of the khassadars present at the jirga, was in the Datta Khel bazaar when he heard about the strike.304 “We were told in plain words that none of the elders that had attended survived. They were all destroyed, all finished.”305 Khalil Khan immediately went to the Nomada depot to try to find his
Interview with Khalil Khan, Noor Khan, & Imran Khan, in Islamabad, Pakistan (Feb.26, 2012). Id. 296 Chris Woods & Christina Lamb, Obama Terror Drones: CIA Tactics in Pakistan Include Targeting Rescuers and Funerals, THE BUREAU OF INVESTIGATIVE JOURNALISM (Feb. 4, 2012), http://www.thebureauinvestigates.com/2012/02/04/obama-terror-drones-cia-tactics-in-pakistaninclude-targeting-rescuers-and-funerals/. 297 Interview with Ahmed Jan, in Islamabad, Pakistan (Feb. 26, 2012); Interview with Mohammad Nazir Khan, in Islamabad, Pakistan (Feb. 26, 2012). 298 Id. 299 Id. 300 Id.; see also Interview with Khalil Khan, Noor Khan, & Imran Khan, in Islamabad, Pakistan (Feb.26, 2012). 301 See Obama 2011 Pakistan Strikes, supra note 286; Abbot, supra note 283. 302 Interview with Mohammad Nazir Khan, in Islamabad, Pakistan (Feb. 26, 2012). 303 Interview with Idris Farid (anonymized name), in Islamabad, Pakistan (Feb. 26, 2012). 304 Interview with Khalil Khan, Noor Khan, & Imran Khan, in Islamabad, Pakistan (Feb.26, 2012). 305 Id. 294 295
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