Amnesty International stops just short of accusing the United States of war crimes in a new report on American drone killings in Pakistan. The documents focus on two separate strikes that left scores of civilians dead or injured for what they claim is no apparent reason.

Mamana Bibi, a 68-year old grandmother, was blown up by a hellfire missile last October while she was picking okra outside her home; Amnesty describes Bibi's situation in its first case study. The second involves 18 laborers — including a 14-year-old boy — who were drinking afternoon tea just before a missile killed them.

"Amnesty International's investigations have shown that some of these drone strikes could amount to war crimes," according to a video that was released alongside Amnesty's report.

Under the Obama administration, drone assaults have become a signature of the U.S. military. They have been used to hunt terrorism suspects in countries such as Pakistan and Yemen, and much of that use has been unprecedented. Before Obama became president, unmanned aircraft were rarely used, and now they have been implemented to kill thousands of suspected terrorists. Those killings have taken place without a clear framework that defines the legality of carrying out air assaults against people who in many cases haven't been accused of specific crimes.

Without legal framework for what constitutes a legal and an illegal drone strike, Amnesty International cannot outright accuse the U.S. of any crimes. The drone program remains so secret, and the legality of carrying out drone strikes in other nations so foggy, that the organization can only demand explanations. The U.S. has yet to even acknowledge Bibi's death, according to Amnesty.

"We're really concerned about the U.S. drone program because it says they can use them anywhere in the world because it has a global war against al-Qaeda and its allies," Mustafa Qadri, a Pakistan researcher at Amnesty International, says in the same video. "But we have to take the U.S. at its word because they provide us with no information."

When Qadri says "information," he is referring to legal justification. Amnesty says it fears that the U.S. is using the lawlessness of Northern Waziristan — a section of Pakistan that borders Afghanistan and is rife with Taliban and al-Qaeda members — to avoid the consequences of what could be war crimes or extrajudicial killings.

"The USA is hiding behind a veil of secrecy to prevent any kind of investigations of killings like Mamana Bibi's," Qadri says. "Her family should not have to pay the price for the USA's so-called global war against al-Qaeda and its allies."

Amnesty International acknowledges in its report that drone strikes have decreased since last year, but emphasizes that a reduction in attacks doesn't abate their concerns. The organization also requests that the Obama administration disclose all of its drone activities, and present a clear legal framework for drone assaults. Amnesty says it wants Congress to investigate the killings cited in its report, the White House to provide a legal basis for those attacks, and the U.S. to compensate families who were affected by drone attacks.

The United States Department of Defense did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Image: Wikimedia Commons