Pakistan drone warfare: special report

Foreign Secretary William Hague and his Pakistani counterpart are expected to discuss Afghanistan, terrorism and US drone strikes during talks in London.

Recent events suggest Pakistan could be facing a “behind the scenes coup”, a leading expert tells Channel 4 News.

Defence analyst Anthony Tucker-Jones assesses where conflicts are most likely to erupt over the next 12 months.

Senior Pakistani security officials and Taliban sources say four of the seven militants killed in a drone attack on Thursday in north Waziristan’s Shawal valley were British nationals.

Two thousand Pakistanis join a rally against drone attacks, labelled a “global assassination campaign” by thinker Noam Chomsky as security sources say the latest strike has killed 13 militants.

A US drone strike in Pakistan has killed five commanders of a powerful Taliban faction which attacks western forces in Afghanistan, according to one of the group’s leaders.

The Seychelles government hits back at allegations the US is using the islands to launch drone attacks in Somalia and Yemen, insisting the aircraft are monitoring pirates not terrorists.

America’s covert war on terror is expanding across the Horn of Africa and the Arabian Peninsula, with the building of secret drone airbases from Ethiopia to the Seychelles.

Abu Hafs al Shahri, believed to be al-Qaeda’s chief of operations in Pakistan, has reportedly been killed in a drone attack in Waziristan.

Pakistan says it has captured three al-Qaeda operatives, including “senior leader” Younis al-Mauritania, who it says took orders directly from Osama bin Laden.

The right-hand man of Osama bin Laden’s successor was killed in a raid in northwest Pakistan in a “tremendous loss” to the terrorist group, American sources said.

US drone strikes in Pakistan have killed more civilians than previously reported, including 168 children, according to figures compiled by the Bureau of Investigative Journalism.

Reports suggest the CIA set up a fake vaccination campaign in an attempt to get DNA from members of the bin Laden family. The development adds to the strain on relations between Pakistan and the US.

The United States is to withhold some £500m in military assistance to Pakistan, as it “works through” strains in their relationship prompted by the raid that killed Osama bin Laden in May.

As troops leave Afghanistan defence experts tell Channel 4 News securing the violent eastern border with Pakistan will become a priority, and that may include the use of more unmanned drone strikes.