[The Predators in Niger will
only conduct surveillance, not airstrikes, the official said. “This is purely
an intelligence-gathering mission,” he said. Other officials said the Obama
administration had not ruled out arming the Predators with missiles in the
future.]
 |
| Drones and spy planes over Africa |
It was the latest step by
the Pentagon to increase its intelligence-gathering across Africa in response
to what officials see as a rising threat from militant groups.
In a letter to Congress,
Obama said about 40 U.S. service members arrived in Niger on Wednesday,
bringing the total number of troops based there to “approximately” 100. He said
the troops, which are armed for self-protection, would support a French-led
military operation in neighboring Mali, where al-Qaeda fighters and other
militants have carved out a refuge in a remote territory the size of Texas.
The base in Niger marks the
opening of another
far-flung U.S. military front against al-Qaeda and its affiliates,
adding to drone combat missions in Afghanistan, Yemen and Somalia. The CIA is
also conducting drone airstrikes against al-Qaeda targets in Pakistan and
Yemen.
Senior U.S. officials have
said for months that they would not put U.S. military “boots
on the ground” in Mali, an impoverished nation that has been mired in chaos
since March, when a U.S.-trained Malian army captain took power in a coup. But
U.S. troops are becoming increasingly involved in the conflict from the skies
and the rear echelons, where they are supporting French and African forces
seeking to stabilize the region.
Obama did not explicitly
reveal the drone base in his letter to Congress, but he said the U.S. troops in
Niger would “provide support for intelligence collection” and share the
intelligence with French forces in Mali.
A U.S. defense official,
speaking on the condition of anonymity to provide details about military
operations, said that the 40 troops who arrived in Niger on Wednesday were almost
all Air Force personnel and that their mission was to support drone flights.
The official said drone
flights were “imminent” but declined to say whether unarmed, unmanned Predator
aircraft had arrived in Niger or how many would be deployed there.
The drones will be based at
first in the capital, Niamey. But military officials would like to eventually
move them north to the city of Agadez, which is closer to parts of Mali where
al-Qaeda cells have taken root.
“That’s a better location
for the mission, but it’s not feasible at this point,” the official said,
describing Agadez as a frontier city “with logistical challenges.”
The introduction of
Predators to Niger fills a gap in U.S. military capabilities over the Sahara,
most of which remains beyond the reach of its drone bases in East Africa and
southern Europe.
The Pentagon also operates
drones from a
permanent base in Djibouti, on the Horn of Africa, and from a
civilian airport in Ethiopia.
The U.S. military has been
flying small
turboprop surveillance planes over northern Mali and West Africa for
years, but the PC-12 spy aircraft have limited range and lack the sophisticated
sensors that Predators carry.
U.S. military contractors
have been flying PC-12 surveillance aircraft from Agadez for several months.
Those planes do not carry military markings and only require a handful of
people to operate.
In contrast, Predators need
ground crews to launch, recover and maintain the drones. Those crews, in turn,
require armed personnel for protection.
The U.S. defense official
said it is likely that more U.S. troops will deploy to Niger but declined to be
specific. "I think it’s safe to say the number will probably grow,” he
said.
The Predators in Niger will
only conduct surveillance, not airstrikes, the official said. “This is purely
an intelligence-gathering mission,” he said. Other officials said the Obama
administration had not ruled out arming the Predators with missiles in the
future.
Information collected from
reconnaissance missions will be shared with the French and other African
militaries so they can attack al-Qaeda targets, officials said.
There is evidence that
al-Qaeda fighters in West Africa are already bracing for drone warfare. The
Associated Press reported finding an al-Qaeda document in Timbuktu, Mali, that listed
22 tips for avoiding drones. Among other countermeasures, it advised hiding
“under thick trees” and buying off-the-shelf electronic scramblers “to confuse
the frequencies used to control the drone.”
Niger, one of the poorest
countries in the world, signed an agreement with the United States last month
that provides legal safeguards for U.S. forces stationed there. Nigerien
officials are concerned about the spillover of violence and refugees from Mali,
which has threatened to destabilize the entire region.
Because Mali’s coup leaders
toppled a democratically elected government, the U.S. government is prohibited
by law from giving direct military aid to Mali.
Johnnie Carson, the State
Department’s top
diplomat for Africa, told reporters Friday that security assistance and
other aid could “immediately” resume to Mali “if there is a restoration of
democracy.” Mali has tentatively scheduled elections for July.
The French military
launched a surprise intervention in Mali last month after Islamist fighters
swept south and threatened to take over much of the country.
Since then, about 4,000
French troops and a coalition of about 6,000 African forces have retaken major
cities in northern Mali, chasing al-Qaeda fighters and other militants into
remote areas. One French official described combat operations there as “a
little like Afghanistan.”
French military leaders
have said they would begin a partial withdrawal next month. Their strategy
hinges on enlisting Malian troops and other African forces to act as
peacekeepers, while negotiating side deals to persuade some of Mali’s many
militant factions to turn against al-Qaeda.
But al-Qaeda fighters and
other Islamist militants have quickly adopted guerrilla tactics and show no
sign of disappearing. Car bombs and suicide attacks have flared in recent days
and are likely to intensify in the coming weeks, Carson acknowledged.
“There’s no question that
[al-Qaeda] has not been totally defeated, but they have been significantly
degraded,” he said at a breakfast sponsored by the Center for Media and
Security.
Karen DeYoung contributed
to this report.
[A police officer told reporters in Hyderabad that improvised
explosive devices may have been placed on two bicycles at the site. But he
added that a surveillance camera in the area was not functioning, and police
did not have video footage to assist their investigation]
By Rama Lakshmi
NEW DELHI — Investigators examined forensic evidence, worked on sketches and
searched for tell-tale clues at the site of twin explosions that ripped through
the southern Indian city of Hyderabad Thursday killing 16 people and wounding
119.
The blasts occurred soon after sunset, within a span of about two
minutes, in a movie theater parking lot and at a bus stop in Dilsukhnagar, an
area on the city’s outskirts full of restaurants and tea shops.
The blast sites were about 400 feet apart, Hyderabad police
said. Television images showed the area littered with shattered glass,
blood-soaked clothes, bags and shoes, and people rushing around in panic.
There was no immediate assertion of responsibility for the
attacks, and police did not identify any suspects.
A police officer told reporters in Hyderabad that improvised
explosive devices may have been placed on two bicycles at the site. But he
added that a surveillance camera in the area was not functioning, and police
did not have video footage to assist their investigation
Home Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde said several Indian cities had
been put on high security alert before the explosions, after warnings were
received.
“We got some information two days ago about a possible attack,
though it was not specific about what kind of an attack, or where,” Shinde told
reporters in New Delhi.
An intelligence official said on the condition of anonymity
because he is not authorized to speak to the media that the alert was sent to
several “vulnerable” cities after some militant groups vowed revenge for the
recent hanging of Afzal Guru, convicted for the attack
on parliament.
A police officer in New Delhi said that a man arrested in October
had confessed to being part of a team that reconnoitered by motorcycle in
several parts of Hyderabad, including Dilsukhnagar. The officer spoke on the
condition of anonymity because it was considered premature to link Thursday’s
blasts with that arrest.
An intelligence official in the capital, who spoke anonymously in
line with agency rules, said Hyderabad is considered a “sensitive target”
because it has been the scene of terrorist attacks before. In August 2007, two powerful bomb blasts there killed
40 people.
More than 100 Muslims were rounded up after the 2007 explosions
and kept in custody for many months. A court eventually ordered their release,
citing a lack of concrete evidence of their role in the blasts.
The Hyderabad-based Civil Liberties Monitoring Committee appealed
to the media Thursday to be “sensitive in reporting the blasts, [to] halt their
self-investigation and [to] stop targeting a particular community” by quoting
unnamed intelligence sources.”
A national security team was heading to Hyderabad to examine the
type of explosives used, the Press Trust of India reported.
“This is a very congested area,” Sarve Satyanarayana, a member of
Parliament from the Dilsukhnagar area, said in a telephone interview. “A lot of
people gather there all the time. It is a commercial area. There is a bus
depot, shops, eateries, one big temple and cinema halls.”
The lawmaker added: “Such attacks will spoil the image of our
city. I don’t know who has committed this heinous crime.”