US official: counterterror operations that killed 2 hostages, 2 US citizens were drone strikes

WASHINGTON – A U.S. government official says two separate U.S. drone strikes killed the two hostages and two Americans who died in U.S. counterterrorism operations against al-Qaida targets in January.

The official said one drone strike was on Jan. 14 and the other on Jan. 19. The official was not authorized to discuss details of the attacks and spoke on condition of anonymity.

The deaths were announced Thursday by the White House.

The U.S. government official said the drone strikes were in the Afghanistan-Pakistan area but was not more specific.