Many in Pakistan say that the strikes cause
indiscriminate deaths and injuries
CIA drone attacks in Pakistan are responsible for
unlawful killings, some of which could amount to
war crimes, Amnesty International says.
Amnesty said it reviewed nine recent drone strikes
in North Waziristan and found a number of victims
were unarmed.
In a separate report looking at six US attacks in Yemen,
Human Rights Watch says two of them killed civilians at
random, violating international law.
Drone warfare has become common in the US pursuit
of al-Qaeda and the Taliban.
Few details are known about the covert US drone
operation.
Senior al-Qaeda and Taliban leaders have been killed in
drone strikes in Pakistan, but civilians have also died.
These attacks cause outrage in Pakistan, where many
assert that the strikes cause indiscriminate deaths and
injuries.
Last week, a UN investigation found that US drone
strikes had killed at least 400 civilians in Pakistan, far
more than the US has ever acknowledged.
UN special rapporteur Ben Emmerson accused the US
of challenging international legal norms by advocating
the use of lethal force outside war zones.
Establishing precise casualty figures and identifying the
dead in such attacks is virtually impossible as
independent media are barred from tribal areas near
the Afghan border.
'Very tight leash'
Amnesty said it had investigated nine of 45 recently
reported attacks by US drones, unmanned aircraft
operated remotely in control rooms, often on other
continents.
The group called on the US to disclose information and
the legal basis for strikes carried out in Pakistan.
In the report, Will I Be Next? US Drone Strikes in
Pakistan, the rights group named several victims who, it
says, had been unarmed and "posed no threat to life".
In October 2012, 68-year-old grandmother Mamana
Bibi was killed in a double strike as she picked
vegetables in the family's fields while surrounded by
her grandchildren, said the report.
It said US President Barack Obama's pledge earlier this
year to increase transparency around drone strikes had
not been fulfilled.
"This secrecy has enabled the USA to act with impunity
and block victims from receiving justice or
compensation. As far as Amnesty is aware, no US
official has ever been held to account for unlawful
killings by drones in Pakistan," the report said.
It called on the governments of Pakistan, Australia,
Germany and the UK to investigate drone strikes or
other abuses that may constitute human rights
violations.
Meanwhile, Human Rights Watch said in its report that
six US drone attacks in Yemen killed 82 people,
including at least 57 civilians.
It added that two of the strikes killed innocent people
indiscriminately.
A controversial aspect of the US policy is that drone
attacks are carried out not by the military but by the
Central Intelligence Agency.
US Defence Secretary Leon Panetta has argued in
favour of the policy, saying that the US will continue to
defend itself.
President Obama has insisted the strategy was "kept on
a very tight leash" and that without the drones, the US
would have had to resort to "more intrusive military
action".
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