US drone strikes kill US, Italian hostages in Pakistan

(RT) The White House says that two hostages, an American and an Italian, died in Pakistan earlier this year as the result of a United States-launched drone strike that also killed two US citizens involved with Al-Qaeda.

“It is with tremendous sorrow that we recently concluded that a US government counterterrorism operation in January killed two innocent hostages held by Al-Qaeda since 2011,” reads a statement released by the White House press office on Thursday morning.

Officials say that an attack in January against a suspected terrorist compound caused the death of American development expert Dr. Warren Weinstein and Giovanni Lo Porto, an Italian aid worker.

Read full article here.

The #WhiteHouse announced Thursday morning a January #drone strike in #Pakistan killed two Al-Qaeda hostages, the American Dr. Warren Weinstein and the Italian Giovanni Lo Porto. The news comes after a Wall Street Journal report on the deaths, which was printed just hours before President Barack #Obama made his address to the nation on the tragedy. Read more on www.RT.com/USA #news

A video posted by RT America (@rt_america) on Apr 23, 2015 at 7:48am PDT

MORE: #Drone strike occurred in January, killed Dr. Warren Weinstein, Giovanni Lo Porto - White House pic.twitter.com/87NYTkOktm
— RT America (@RT_America) April 23, 2015