(MENAFN- Kuwait News Agency (KUNA)) The White House on Thursday revealed that two "innocent hostages" - one American, one Italian, and two senior members of Al-Qaeda, both American, were "accidentally" killed in US counterterrorism operations near the Pakistan-Afghanistan border. In a statement, Press Secretary Josh Earnest affirmed that the hostages - Dr. Warren Weinstein and Giovani Lo Porto - died during an airstrike on an Al-Qaeda compound in January, and the US was not aware they were being held at that location.
The Al-Qaeda members - Ahmed Farouq and Adam Gadahn - were also not "specifically targeted," and the US "did not have information indicating their presence at the sites of these operations," Earnest said. Gadahan was "likely" killed in a separate counterterrorism operation, he added. In remarks to the press following the announcement, President Barack Obama said he takes "full responsibility" for all the airstrikes. "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," he said.
"But one of the things that sets America apart from many other nations, one of the things that makes us exceptional is our willingness to confront squarely our imperfections and to learn from our mistakes," he expressed. The president extended his condolences to the families of Weinstein and Lo Porto, describing them as "aid workers in Pakistan, devoted to improving the lives of the Pakistani people." He continued, "After Warren was abducted by Al-Qaeda in 2011, I directed my national security team to do everything possible to find him and to bring him home safely to his family. And dedicated professionals across our government worked tirelessly to do so. We also worked closely with our Italian allies on behalf of Giovanni, who was kidnapped in 2012." Obama said he has "directed a full review of what happened," and also "directed that the existence of this operation be declassified and disclosed publicly" for the sake of the hostages' families.
However, "hundreds of hours of surveillance" lead to the intelligence that formed the basis of the operation, the president said, and the "initial assessment indicates that [it] was fully consistent with the guidelines under which we conduct counterterrorism efforts in the region."
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