BREAKING The White House said Western hostages as well as two Americans al-Qaeda members were killed in raids
- White House statement on the deaths in full
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Hostage profile: Who was the American citizen killed?
The captives were named as Dr Warren Weinstein, an American held since 2011, and Giovanni Lo Porto, an Italian national. Both were aid workers. The operation was carried out in January and the US said it was all but certain that no hostages were present at the compound targeted in the strike.
The White House said that two other Americans - both al-Qaeda members - were killed in US drone strikes in the same region.
Barack Obama offered his profound regrets over the deaths of the two men
"I take full responsibility for our counter-terrorism operations," Mr Obama said in a televised appearance.
"In the fog of war...mistakes, sometimes deadly mistakes, can occur."
He added: “I profoundly regret what happened. On behalf of the US government, I offer our deepest apologies to the families.”
Mr Weinstein, 73, from Rockville, Maryland, was seized by militants on August 11 2011 in the Pakistani city of Lahore. At the time he was working as a contractor for the US's international aid agency.
Mr Lo Porto, 39, who studied at London Metropolitan University, travelled to Pakistan in January 2012. He was seized soon after he arrived, along with another aid worker, German national Bernd Mühlenbeck. Mr Mühlenbeck was eventually released, in neighbouring Afghanistan, in October 2014.
The CIA's use of unmanned drones to fire missiles at suspected militants in places such as Pakistan and Yemen has been a constant feature of Mr Obama's presidency.
Their use, and the attendant deaths of civilians they result in, is highly controversial in the nations where the strikes take place, but has sparked only limited debate inside the US.
Earlier on Thursday, the White House had issued a statement in which it said it was with "tremendous sorrow that we recently concluded that a US government counter-terrorism operation in January killed two innocent hostages held by al-Qaeda"
It added: "Our hearts go out to the families of Dr Warren Weinstein, an American held by al-Qaeda since 2011, and Giovanni Lo Porto, an Italian national who had been an al-Qaeda hostage since 2012."
One of them, Ahmed Farouq, died in the same operation that resulted in the deaths of Dr Weinstein and Mr Lo Porto, said the White House.
Reports said that the CIA, which carries out the drone strikes, was not aware of the presence of either the hostages or the two US-born militants. Such a claim would remove the need for a special authorisation to target an American citizen.
Mr Weinstein was married with two children. His wife, Elaine Weinstein, released a statement that said the family was devastated by the new that the aid worker "will never safely return home".
"We were so hopeful that those in the US and Pakistani governments with the power to take action and secure his release would have done everything possible to do so and there are no words to do justice to the disappointment and heartbreak we are going through," it said.
The White House said that while the operation that killed the Western hostages had been carried out legally, a review was underway to try and determine what lessons could be learned.
copy http://www.independent.co.uk/
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