This report looks at the intersection between two phenomena: the Kill List and the covert drone programme in Pakistan and Yemen. While the US refuses to say who is on the Kill List, a look at the reporting around drone strikes gives the names of dozens of individuals who have been targeted or report killed once, only to be targeted again, and again, and again.

In fact, 41 individuals have been the target of multiple strikes, some of them as many as seven times. They are the proverbial cats with nine lives. We show how these 41 individuals account for almost a quarter of all drone strike casualties – a Kill List where efforts to eliminate 41 may have instead resulted in the extermination of hundreds. Our findings raise questions about the “precision” of US intelligence. They also raise the question: if the people on the US Kill List take on average three strikes to kill, who is the US killing in the first two strikes that miss their targets?