US terror drones operators intentionally target civilians

US assassination drone operators intentionally launch a second attack on their target area to kill the civilians that arrive to help victims, a commentator tells Press TV.

“They are doing this disgusting practicing called ‘double tapping,’ where they hit an area with drones and they circle back around when the medics come and then they hit them again, clearly killing civilians,” Ryan Dawson, a human rights activist from Japan said in an interview with Press TV on Wednesday.

“Time after time in the past, when they’ve said they only killed militants, it turned out they usually killed a lot of civilians,” he added.

The US conducts illegal drone strikes in several countries, including Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Yemen.

Washington claims the targets of the drone attacks are militants, but local sources maintain that civilians have been the main victims of the attacks over the past few years.

Dawson said, “Drone strikes are acts of terrorism in themselves; so I think it’s hypocritical to say you’re fighting terrorists by engaging in terrorism.”

US assassination drone strikes have increased over the past few years in Yemen despite the Yemeni government’s strong condemnations that it is in violation of their sovereignty.

Yemen’s parliament banned US terror drone strikes in December 2013 following a shocking incident during which a US drone targeted a wedding ceremony in central Yemen, killing at least 17 people.

A United Nations human rights investigator reported earlier this year that the escalation in drone strikes and civilian casualties in Yemen is a cause for concern.