White House says families of US, Italian hostages killed by drone strike will be compensated

WASHINGTON – The U.S. government intends to make payments to the families of two al-Qaida hostages that President Barack Obama says were accidentally killed in a drone strike.

Obama press secretary Josh Earnest won't say how much will be given. But he says compensation will be provided to the families of American Warren Weinstein and Italy's Giovanni Lo Porto.

Both men were captured years ago while working as aid workers in Pakistan. Obama says he deeply regrets that they were killed on a counterterrorism mission in January.

The president says the mission targeted an al-Qaida compound, but the U.S. did not know the hostages were being held there.