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Summary
UN Special Rapporteur on Extrajudicial Executions Philip Alston said that US drone strikes against suspected terrorists in Afghanistan and Pakistan could be breaking international laws against summary executions.He said in a press conference, The problem with the US is that it is making an increased use of drones/Predators (which are) particularly prominently used now in relation to Pakistan and Afghanistan.My concern is that drones/Predators are being operated in a framework which may well violate international humanitarian law and international human rights law, he said. US strikes with remote-controlled aircraft against Al-Qaeda and Taliban targets in Afghanistan and northwestern Pakistan have often resulted in civilian deaths and drawn bitter criticism from local populations.The onus is really on the US government to reveal more about the ways in which it makes sure that arbitrary extrajudicial executions aren't in fact being carried out through the use of these weapons, he added. He urged the United States to be more forthright about how and when it uses drone aircraft, something about which the US Defense Department and Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) usually keep silent.
