US drone attacks in Pakistan setting 'dangerous' precedent: UK minister

LONDON: A top British government minister Thursday attacked US President Barack Obama's policy of drone strikes against militants in the tribal areas of Pakistan.

Liberal Democrat cabinet minister Edward Davey said the US was "transgressing the sovereignty" of Pakistan by launching missiles from drones at targets in the South Asian country.

The Energy Secretary said the use of drones by the US military was setting a "very dangerous precedent" and claimed international law needed to catch up with the technological advances in unmanned aerial vehicles.

Appearing on BBC1's Question Time, Davey said: "On drones I think there's a serious question we have got to face up to. Because I think if the Americans keep using drones in the way that they have been doing everyone is going to say this is setting a very, very dangerous precedent.

"I think the UN and the international community has got to look very seriously at these weapons. They are transgressing sovereignty, in the case that we know about America, the sovereignty of Pakistan.

"And while drones can be, if they are not being used in a military way ... used for surveillance in a very effective way, and that's how the British use them, I think there are some real serious issues, (about) the international law of the use of drones and the American government is beginning to look at that."

Britain also uses drones to carry out military strikes, with official figures showing that the UK's unmanned aircraft flew 892 missions last year in Afghanistan, with weapons being fired on 92 occasions - more than 10 per cent of all sorties.

But ministers have insisted that British drones are not used to carry out operations in Pakistan.

"There are strict rules of international engagement and conflict," Davey said.

"My concern with drones is that the international law has not caught up with them and it must do, so that people who are using these types of technology actually have to abide by the law.

"Americans in their armed forces are saying 'we have got to make sure that we don't set a precedent so other countries start doing what we're doing with drones because that would be very dangerous'."

Last month two United Nations human rights investigators called for more transparency from the US and other countries about their drone strikes program. (Agencies)