Suspected US drones hit parts of country 13 times in 2015, the lowest number of strikes in eight years, according to a report by the Bureau of Investigative Journalism. "The drones hit Pakistan's tribal areas 13 times last year, killing between 60 and 85 people - almost half the 25 strikes in 2014," the London-based bureau said in its annual drone report issued on Thursday.
A peak of 128 strikes were carried out in 2010. The decrease in attacks is apparently linked to the anti-militant operation by Pakistan's army in the north-western region along the Afghan border, which has been a rebel stronghold, analyst Fida Khan said. The bureau reported that the total of 370 attacks in Pakistan under US President Barack Obama was seven times higher than the number under George W Bush.
CIA drone operations in Pakistan were reduced largely because of the success of the military operation in the region launched in June 2014, according to Fida Khan. "These attacks have destroyed command and control system of militants in Pakistan," said Khan. The operation was further intensified after attacks at a school in Peshawar in December, 2014 that killed at least 150 people. So far about 3,500 militants have been killed in the operation, according to the army. The bureau reported that the reduction in CIA operations in Pakistan last year could also be due to "outrage over a catastrophic strike on January 15 that accidentally killed an Italian and an American, both al Qaeda hostages."
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