WASHINGTON: President Barack Obama revealed on Thursday that an American and an Italian hostage were accidentally killed in a covert US counter-terrorism operation near the Pak-Afghan border in January, taking “full responsibility” for the tragedy.

A senior Al Qaeda leader also was killed in the operation and the terrorist group’s English-language spokesman, US convert Adam Gadahn, died in a separate strike.

Lifting the lid on a previously classified finding, a solemn Obama expressed his “deepest apologies” to the families of 73-year-old economic adviser Warren Weinstein and aid worker Giovanni Lo Porto, 39.

Mr Obama gave few details of the operation, which officials suggested was a drone strike that took place against an Al Qaeda compound inside Pakistan.

“As president and as commander-in-chief, I take full responsibility for all our counter-terrorism operations, including the one that inadvertently took the lives of Warren and Giovanni,” he said.

“It is a cruel and bitter truth that in the fog of war generally and our fight against terrorists specifically, mistakes — sometimes deadly mistakes — can occur.” President Obama said he informed Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi personally about his administration’s findings.

Italy’s foreign ministry described the deaths as a “tragic and fatal error by our US allies” but said “terrorists” were entirely to blame.

But this is just the latest controversy around Mr Obama’s counter-terrorism operations, which — while killing Osama bin Laden in a commando raid — have more often relied heavily on secret drone strikes.

The US president was quick to stress that “we do believe that the operation did take out dangerous members of Al Qaeda”.

The White House said that Ahmed Farouq, an American described as an Al Qaeda leader, was killed in the incident. Another operation at around the same time in the same area killed Gadahn, a Californian who converted to Islam as a teenager and travelled to join Al Qaeda, becoming its spokesman.

Despite Mr Obama’s defence of his counter-terrorism record, Congressional leaders made calls for more oversight over the drone programme.

Democratic Senator Dianne Feinstein demanded an “annual report on the number of deaths — both combatant and civilian — from US strikes”.

Republican Senator John McCain said there must be a review of the incident, but indicated the drone programme should continue.

Mr Weinstein’s widow said in a statement that “we are devastated by this news and the knowledge that my husband will never safely return home”.

“The cowardly actions of those who took Warren captive and ultimately to the place and time of his death are not in keeping with Islam and they will have to face their God to answer for their actions,” she said.

The White House said the United States would compensate the families of both men, but details had yet to be finalised.

Mr Lo Porto disappeared in January 2012 in Pakistan, just a few days into his second stint in the country. A native of Sicily, he previously worked in Croatia, the Central African Republic and Haiti.

Our Special Correspondent in Lahore adds: Mr Weinstein was kidnapped from his residence in Model Town, Lahore, on August 13, 2011. He lived in Pakistan for seven years, working as country director of the Virginia-based development company JE Austin Associates.

Police said that Mr Weinstein was kidnapped at Sehri time, at about 3.30am. Some men tricked the guards and barged into the house using the backdoor, overpowered the guards and kidnapped Mr Weinstein.

Convicted of abducting him, Hafiz Imran of Wazirabad was handed down three death sentences by an anti-terrorism court in Lahore on Jan 7 this year. Police had also nominated Al Qaeda chief Ayman Al Zawahiri as an accused in the case.

The Al Qaeda chief had claimed in a video clip in 2011 that Mr Weinstein was in the custody of its members. Reports at the time indicated that the US citizen was being held in North Waziristan by Lashkar-i-Jhangvi militants.

In May 2012, Al Qaeda released his video to prove that he was alive. This was followed by three other video clips in September and December the same year.

Mr Weinstein had a doctorate in international law and economics, was a Fulbright scholar and had 25 years of experience in development projects. He spoke at least six languages and was well-known among donor agencies.

Our Peshawar Bureau adds: A security official claimed that the two hostages were killed in the same strike in which Gadahn and Farouq were killed on Jan 15.

He said a drone had targeted an Al Qaeda camp in Shawal area near the Afghan border, which was run by Farouq, known among his colleagues as Ustad Farouq.

He said he had come to know about the deaths of the two hostages when he and his colleagues were trying to trace the whereabouts of the kidnapped sons of former prime minister Yousuf Raza Gilani and former Punjab governor Salman Taseer.

Al Qaeda released an audio message on April 13 in which its spokesman had confirmed the death of Farouq in a drone strike in North Waziristan in January. The spokesman had not mentioned the deaths of the hostages in the attack.

Published in Dawn, April 24th, 2015

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