US strike inadvertently killed US, Italian hostages; Obama apologizes
A US drone strike in January targeting an al Qaeda compound in Pakistan near the Afghan border inadvertently killed an American and an Italian who had been held hostage for years by the group, US officials said on April 23.
President Barack Obama apologized and took "full responsibility" for all counterterrorism operations, including this one.
The deaths were a setback for the long-running US drone strike program that has targeted Islamist militants in Pakistan, Afghanistan and elsewhere, and has often drawn criticism in those countries and from civil liberties groups in the United States.
Killed in the January drone strike were aid workers Warren Weinstein, an American held by al Qaeda since 2011, and Giovanni Lo Porto, an Italian who went missing in Pakistan in 2012, as well as Ahmed Farouq, an American who was an al Qaeda leader, US officials said.
Obama said he had ordered a full review of the matter to ensure such mistakes are not repeated.
"I profoundly regret what happened. On behalf of the United States government, I offer our deepest apologies to the families," Obama told reporters at the White House.