Hostages killed by mistake

The White House says a U.S. counterterrorism operation targeting an al Qaeda compound accidentally killed two hostages.

One of the hostages killed in the January operation was Warren Weinstein, an American held hostage by al Qaeda since 2011.

The White House also disclosed that two other Americans, both al-Qaeda operatives, were killed in U.S. counterterrorism operations in the same region. One of them was Adam Gadahn.

President Barack Obama on Thursday expressed "our deepest apologies" for the deaths of two aid workers in a U.S. drone strike in Pakistan in January who were being held hostage in an Al Qaeda compound.

"I want to express our grief and our condolences to the families of two hostages... who were tragically killed in a U.S. counterterrorism operation," Obama told reporters.

The White House announced Thursday that U.S. counterterrorism operations aimed at Al Qaeda mistakenly killed an American and an Italian hostage along the Afghanistan-Pakistan border, while also killing two prominent American members of the terrorist network.

Obama said he had ordered a full review of the incident.