Jessica Purkiss

Jessica Purkiss is a reporter on the Bureau of Investigative Journalism's Covert Drone War team. Before joining the Bureau she was a staff writer and editor for Middle East Monitor. She has also reported from Palestine. Jessica has an MA from Kingston University in human rights and genocide.

Executive Who Oversaw Iraq ‘Black Ops’ Hired to Produce Anti-Qatar Propaganda

The former CEO of propaganda producer, Bell Pottinger USA, was given over $500,000 to produce a six-part film linking Qatar with global terrorism.

Jessica Purkiss
От Jessica Purkiss
Qatar: A Dangerous Alliance

A veteran of Pentagon propaganda operations was hired last year by a Dubai-based company to create a film accusing Qatar of links to terrorism, the Bureau can reveal. Charles Andreae, whose firm Andreae & Associates was contracted to produce the film, used to work for PR firm Bell Pottinger. Whilst at Bell Pottinger, he helped oversee a $500

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Trump’s Pentagon Clamps Down on Secrecy Around US Air Wars

Under the guise of operational security, the Pentagon is being increasingly illusive on reporting the number and nature of US airstrikes in Afghanistan and Yemen.

Jessica Purkiss
От Jessica Purkiss
Photo of Hellfire missiles being loaded onto a US military Reaper drone in Afghanistan by Staff Sgt. Brian Ferguson/U.S. Air Force

The US has quietly stepped up secrecy over its air wars in Afghanistan and Yemen since President Donald Trump entered office. The American Civil Liberties Union called the new practices – discovered by the Bureau through interviews with past and present US military officials – "deeply disturbing”. Towards the end of the Obama administration,

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US Response to Civilian Casualties Confuses Controversial Kunduz Strike

If the death toll of ten civilians is confirmed, it would make the Chardara strike one of the biggest mistakes US aircraft have made in Afghanistan this year.

Jessica Purkiss
Ruhullah Khapalwak
От Jessica Purkiss
And Ruhullah Khapalwak
Afghan villagers gather around a victim who was killed during clashes between Taliban and Afghan security forces in Taliban's controlled village, Buz-e Kandahari village in Kunduz province, north of Kabul, Afghanistan, Nov. 4, 2016. (AP/Najim Rahim)

The US has added to the confusion about a major civilian casualty allegation in Afghanistan, complicating its initial statement that there were no innocents killed in the 4 November airstrike in Kunduz province. Residents' claims in the media that the attack on Chardara district had killed civilians were denied in the days following the

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Drone Strike Hits Tribal Areas As US-Pakistan Tensions Rise

The strike was the fifth to have taken place this year. Strikes resumed in Pakistan in March, nearly two months after President Trump came into office, following a nine-month hiatus.

Jessica Purkiss
От Jessica Purkiss
A fully armed MQ-9 Reaper taxis down an Afghanistan runway. (Photo: U.S. Air Force)

A US drone strike on Friday, September 15th, killed three men in the tribal area of Kurram, which lies on the border with Afghanistan, according to government and security officials as well as tribal sources. The attack is the first since President Trump announced his new strategy for Afghanistan in a speech last month. In it he vowed to "no

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US Revives Afghanistan Airdrops, Signaling Escalation Of Conflict

A return to air drops signals a possible deterioration of security for US troops operating in Afghanistan.

Jessica Purkiss
От Jessica Purkiss
US Revives Afghanistan Supply Drops, Signaling Escalation Of Conflict

The US carried out its first combat airdrop in Afghanistan in more than two years last month, according to newly released US Air Force data. A return to airdrops signals a possible deterioration of security for US troops operating in Afghanistan. Airdrops minimise the time an aircraft and aircrew spends in a hostile environment, allowing them to

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Yemen Hit With Unprecedented Number Of US Drone, Air Strikes

The attacks come a month after a botched US special forces raid ended in the deaths of 25 civilians, including nine children under the age of 13.

Jack Serle
Jessica Purkiss
От Jack Serle
And Jessica Purkiss
A man inspects his home destroyed by Saudi-led airstrikes in Sanaa, Yemen, Monday, Jan. 4, 2016. According to U.N. figures, the war in Yemen has killed at least 5,884 people since March, when fighting escalated after the Saudi-led coalition began launching airstrikes claiming to be targeting the Houthi rebels. (AP Photo/Hani Mohammed)

(REPORT) --- In an unprecedented intensification of America’s counter-terrorism operations in Yemen, the US has confirmed it carried out 20 strikes across three central provinces. The strikes, which were carried out in the early morning, targeted fighters from the regional arm of al Qaeda, known as AQAP, their equipment and infrastructure, in

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Obama Carried Out Ten Times More Drone Strikes Than Bush

Obama oversaw more strikes in his first year than Bush carried out during his entire presidency.

Jack Serle
Jessica Purkiss
От Jack Serle
And Jessica Purkiss
The number of civilians killed by United States drone strikes is at least 500, nearly all of the strikes were a part of the Obama administration’s targeted assassination policy. (Photo: (Image: Lance Page/Truthout; Adapted: Amanda Currier, Nathan Barry/Flickr-CC)

There were ten times more air strikes in the covert war on terror during President Barack Obama’s presidency than under his predecessor, George W. Bush. Obama embraced the US drone programme, overseeing more strikes in his first year than Bush carried out during his entire presidency. A total of 563 strikes, largely by drones, targeted Pakistan,

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