Washington - The White House said Thursday that a US operation in January against an Al Qaeda compound near the Afghan-Pakistan border killed one American and one Italian hostage, along with an American member of the jihadist group.
Another American, Al-Qaeda spokesman Adam Gadahn, was killed, "likely in a separate US government counterterrorism operation."
"No words can fully express our regret over this terrible tragedy," the White House said, revealing the previously classified finding. The president "takes full responsibility for these operations."
Obama is scheduled to make a public address at 1400 GMT (10:00 ET).
The White House identified the hostages killed in the operation against the border compound as US contractor Warren Weinstein and Italian aid worker Giovanni Lo Porto.
Weinstein was snatched after gunmen tricked their way into his home in Lahore on August 13, 2011 shortly before he was due to return home after seven years working in Pakistan.
He later appeared in a video in which, under apparent coercion, he asked the United States to free Al-Qaeda prisoners.
AFP
