Only a week after President Obama’s speech on the restrictions necessary to control American drones under cases of instigated attacks, the drones have been reported for attacking and wounding four and killing seven, one of which was said to be the Pakistan Taliban Number Two.

READ MORE: President Obama Addresses Americans Killed By Drone Strikes

The Pakistani Taliban are an entity separate from but allied to the Afghan Taliban. They are otherwise referred to as the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and have conducted large scale attacks against the Pakistani military and civilians. 

Wali-ur-Rehman was the next in line to eventually become the leader of the Taliban’s Pakistani faction before being gunned down by the American drones on Wednesday. It was the first attack since the May 11th election where the unmanned aircraft had already become an issue to the citizens and officials. 

The information comes from security officials and Pashtun tribesmen in the northwestern region, but sources claim that the information is difficult to back up. 

From The Washington Post: 

“Their reports could not be independently confirmed, and numerous militant leaders — including Mehsud — have been falsely reported as killed by drones only to quickly resurface. Asked whether Rehman had been killed, a Taliban spokesman, Ensanullah Ehsan, said in a telephone interview Wednesday that he had “no such information.”

On top of Taliban fighters generally sealing off drone strike sites right after they occur, foreign journalists need permission from the military to visit the Pashtun tribal areas along the Afghan border making first-hand verifications of victims to be nearly impossible.

The Pakistan government has yet to confirm Rehman’s death officially, but strongly persist against the conduct of the drones and argue against the loss of innocent lives. 

 

Reach Executive Producer Eric Parra here.