analysts: U.S. & Pakistan collaborating again on drone strikes

[xchrom]

http://www.nationofchange.org/analysts-us-pakistan-collaborating-again-drone-strikes-1326814233

Two ap­par­ent U.S. drone at­tacks last week on mil­i­tant tar­gets in Pak­istani tribal areas bor­der­ing Afghanistan very likely sig­nal the re­sump­tion of joint coun­ter­in­tel­li­gence op­er­a­tions by the CIA and Pak­istan's mil­i­tary spy agency, se­cu­rity an­a­lysts here said Mon­day.

The re­ported strikes would be the first in Pak­istan since U.S.-led NATO forces killed 25 Pak­istani sol­diers in a "friendly fire" in­ci­dent on the bor­der in No­vem­ber, which drove re­la­tions be­tween Wash­ing­ton and Is­lam­abad to a new low.

News re­ports over the week­end quoted anony­mous Pak­istani mil­i­tary of­fi­cials as say­ing that radio chat­ter among mil­i­tants sug­gested that the chief of the Pak­istani Tal­iban, Hakimul­lah Mehsud, was among four in­sur­gents who were killed Thurs­day in the sec­ond of the drone strikes in the North Waziris­tan tribal area.

A spokesman for the Pak­istani Tal­iban de­nied Mah­sud's death, how­ever, say­ing he wasn't in the area at the time. Mem­bers of rival mil­i­tant fac­tions told Mc­Clatchy that they'd re­ceived no news of his death.