US al-Qaeda strike kills American and Italian hostages

A US drone strike targeting an al-Qaeda compound in the Pakistan Afghanistan border region inadvertently killed two hostages being held by the group, the White House has confirmed.

Warren Weinstein, an American held by al-Qaeda since 2011, and Giovanni Lo Porto, an Italian national who had been held as a hostage since 2012, were killed "accidentally" in the counter-terrorism operation in January, in what the White House referred to as a "terrible tragedy."

"As president and as commander-in-chief, I take full responsibility for all our counter-terrorism operations, including the one that inadvertently took the life of Warren and Giovanni," the president said in a statement to the press on Thursday. "It is a cruel and bitter truth that in the fog of war generally and the fight against terrorism specifically, mistakes, and sometimes deadly mistakes, can occur."

The president did not take additional questions from reporters.

The disclosure that two hostages were killed in a US strike will raise fresh questions about the limits of such operations, and whether imperfect intelligence unnecessarily risks civilian lives. The president on Thursday stressed that an initial review had shown that the January operation was "fully consistent" with existing guidelines, and based on intelligence that included hundreds of hours of surveillance.

The White House said that the same counter-terrorism operation killed Ahmed Farouq, an American citizen who was an al-Qaeda operative.

Another American citizen who had become a prominent member of al-Qaeda, Adam Gadahn, was also killed in January, "likely in a separate US government counter-terrorism operation," the administration said.

"We believed this was an al-Qaeda compound, that no civilians were present, and that capturing these terrorists was not possible," the president said. "We do believe that the operation did take out dangerous members of al-Qaeda. What we did not know, tragically, is that al-Qaeda was hiding the presence of Warren and Giovanni in this compound."

The information released on Thursday had been classified until the president authorised its release.

At the time of his kidnapping, Mr Lo Porto, 39, had been working as a humanitarian aid worker for Welthungerhilfe, a German charity, on a mission to help victims of the earthquake and floods in the city of Multan, in the Punjab region of Pakistan.

He was experienced in emergency assistance, having also worked on projects in Africa and Haiti, according to Italian daily La Repubblica. Hopes that Mr Lo Porto could be freed were raised last year when his colleague Bernd Muehlenbeck, who was kidnapped alongside him, was let go in Afghanistan.

Mr Weinstein was taken hostage in Lahore, Pakistan when he was working for the United States Agency for International Development. Mr Weinstein had been helping Pakistani families escape poverty, according to president Obama.

In a statement, Matteo Renzi, Italian prime minister, offered condolences to Mr Lo Porto's family. "I express deep pain for the death of an Italian who dedicated his life serving others". Mr Renzi also offered his condolences to Mr Weinstein's family.

Mr Renzi was only informed of Mr Lo Porto's death at the hands of a US drone strike by Mr Obama on Wednesday, less than a week after the two met at the White House, the Italian prime minister's office said.

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