[GUARDIAN.CO.UK] Just days after Barack Obama announced new restrictions on the use of drones, one of the CIA's unmanned aircraft is reported to have killed the deputy leader of the Pakistani Taliban -- one of the most significant strikes for the controversial programme in months.It was the first drone strike since Pakistanis voted overwhelmingly on 11 May for political parties strongly opposed to the US use of drones.
It could complicate the first days in office of Nawaz Sharif, the incoming prime minister who has vowed to open peace talks with insurgents and is due to assume office on 5 June.
Pakistani security officials claimed Wali ur-Rehman was among the four people killed when a missile launched in the early hours of Wednesday from a drone struck a house in Chamsa, a village a mile from Miranshah, the political capital of North Waziristan, a Taliban stronghold.
However, the Taliban refused to concede the death of Rehman, the most senior military commander of the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP). A man claiming to be Rehman's driver also vociferously denied that the leader had been killed, but admitted other militants had died in the missile strike.
In recent years, militants, particularly senior leaders, have taken great pains to avoid congregating in houses, in efforts to protect themselves from strikes in North Waziristan. However, in 2013 the number of strikes has steeply declined.
Information about drone strikes is notoriously hard to verify. The Pakistani military and insurgent groups prevent journalists and investigators from visiting attack sites. Claims by intelligence sources can be inaccurate or deliberately designed to deceive.
Despite media reports suggesting Obama intended to severely rein in the use of lethal drone strikes, the president made clear in an address at the National Defence University last week that they would have to continue in Pakistan in the runup to the end of the Nato combat mission in Afghanistan next year.
He said drones were needed to kill senior al-Qaida leaders who could not be captured, but also "against forces that are massing to support attacks on coalition forces" in Afghanistan.
Pakistan's foreign ministry released a statement repeating a familiar stance on drone attacks that the government has long publicly opposed, despite considerable evidence of past complicity in the programme.