Chenagai airstrike
Chenagai airstrike | |
---|---|
Part of Bajaur, Pakistan | |
Date | 30 October 2006 |
Attack type | Airstrike |
Deaths | 70-82[1] |
Perpetrators | Unknown (Pakistan or United States) |
The Chenagai airstrike took place on October 30, 2006, around 5:00 am local time in the Chenagai village of Bajaur Agency (today Bajaur District) of the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA, today Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province, KPK) on Pakistan's western border with Afghanistan. Both Pakistan and the United States were accused of conducting the attack, however the United States officially denied responsibility for the attack.
Security and terrorism commentator Alexis Debat reported the target of the strike was Ayman al-Zawahiri, al-Qaeda's second-in-command. Though Zawahiri was not among the dead and was killed in a July 2022 airstrike in Kabul, two to five senior al-Qaeda commanders were present or during or shortly before the attack including Matiur Rehman Ali Muhammad, mastermind of the 2006 transatlantic aircraft plot, and Faqir Mohammad, a close friend of Zawahiri and deputy leader of Tehrik-e Taliban Pakistan (TTP).
No official count of casualties was undertaken, local sources claim between 70 and 82 were killed in the attack.[2][3]
Strike
The attack took place in Chenagai village near the town of
Responsibility
According to
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.[
Reaction
There were angry reactions in response to the strike. Many
Retaliation
On November 8, 2006, a
See also
- Damadola airstrike
- Gora Prai airstrike
- Drone attacks in Pakistan
- List of drone strikes in Pakistan
References
- ^ "The emerging age of drone wars". CBS News. Retrieved 10 October 2011.
And more than once the United States has gotten it wrong -- perhaps most tragically on Oct. 30, 2006, when an errant drone strike obliterated an Islamic boarding school in Chenagai, Pakistan, killing 82 people.
- ^ a b Debat, Alexis (2006-10-30). "Zawahiri Was Target in U.S. Attack on Religious School in Pakistan". Retrieved 2006-10-31.
- ^ "The day 69 children died".
- ^ "A Closer Look at the Chingai Airstrike in Bajaur, Pakistan". Long war journal. 30 October 2006. Retrieved 30 October 2016.
- ^ "NWFP senior minister resigns". DAWN. 2006-10-30. Retrieved 2006-10-31.
- ^ "MNA resigns in protest against air strike". DAWN. 2006-10-30. Retrieved 2006-10-31.
- ^ Walsh, Declan (8 November 2006). "Suicide blast kills 42 Pakistani soldiers". The Guardian.
- ^ "Bomber kills 42 Pakistani troops". BBC News. 8 November 2006.