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US to pay '$1.2m' to Italian family of drone strike victim | |
(about 5 hours later) | |
The US government has agreed to pay €1.1m ($1.2m; £934,000) to the family of an Italian aid worker killed by a drone strike in Pakistan, reports say. | |
Aid worker Giovanni Lo Porto, 37, was killed while being held hostage by al-Qaeda in 2015. | |
US aid worker Warren Weinstein, 73, being held with him also died in the operation. | |
The White House has confirmed that payments were made to both families, without releasing details. | |
President Barack Obama admitted the deaths in April last year, saying that he profoundly regretted them. It was announced that compensation would be paid to the families. | |
Officials said at the time that the operation had targeted an al-Qaeda compound in the border region of Afghanistan and Pakistan, and that they had believed there were no civilians present. | |
But according to La Repubblica newspaper (in Italian) and the Guardian newspaper, the agreement states that Mr Lo Porto was killed inside Pakistan. | But according to La Repubblica newspaper (in Italian) and the Guardian newspaper, the agreement states that Mr Lo Porto was killed inside Pakistan. |
The payment was considered a "donation in memory" of the Italian, La Repubblica says. | |
Mr Lo Porto had disappeared from Multan, Pakistan, in January 2012 but little is known about what happened then. He had worked for an international aid group called Welthungerhilfe. | Mr Lo Porto had disappeared from Multan, Pakistan, in January 2012 but little is known about what happened then. He had worked for an international aid group called Welthungerhilfe. |
Mr Weinstein, a development worker, was kidnapped from his home in Lahore, Pakistan, in 2011. He had lived in Pakistan for seven years, working on economic development projects. | |
The strike also killed American Ahmed Farouq, described as an al-Qaeda leader. |