[2] The airstrike was part of a long series of drone attacks in Pakistan carried out by the CIA and United States military.

It occurred just two days after diyya, a form of compensation paid to a victim's family under Islamic law, was paid for the release of U.S. CIA operative Raymond Allen Davis, signaling a resumption of U.S. activity after a several week hiatus while Davis' pardon on murder charges was being negotiated.

According to Pakistani intelligence officials, the attack targeted a compound where several dozen people believed to be Taliban militants linked to Hafiz Gul Bahadur were meeting.

The governor of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Syed Masood Kausar, also strongly condemned the attack, saying that civilians and policemen were killed.

[12] Thousands of protesters gathered in the capital Islamabad, chanting "[f]riends of the US are traitors", "[d]own with America" and "[h]ang Zardari.