An American and an Italian who had been held hostage by al-Qaida in the border region of Pakistan and Afghanistan were killed in a US counterterrorism operation in January, President Barack Obama said yesterday.

"I profoundly regret what happened. On behalf of the United States government, I offer our deepest apologies to the families," he said.

The operation in which American doctor Warren Weinstein and Italian aid worker Giovanni Lo Porto were killed also resulted in the death of an American al-Qaida leader, Ahmed Farouq, the White House said. Another American al-Qaida member, Adam Gadahn, was also killed, likely in a separate operation, it added.

US government sources said the operations involved drone strikes.

Obama said he took "full responsibility" for the operation that killed the hostages, adding: "It is a cruel and bitter truth that in the fog of war generally and our fight (against) terrorists specifically, mistakes, sometimes deadly mistakes, can occur."

The US had believed the target was an al-Qaida compound with no civilians present, Obama said.

He had ordered details of the operation to be declassified, but it was fully consistent with counterterrorism efforts in the region.

Weinstein, 73 was abducted in Lahore, Pakistan, in 2011 while working for a US consulting firm. Al-Qaida had asked to trade him for members of the Islamist group held by the US.

He was seen in videos released in May 2012 and December 2013, asking for Obama to intervene on his behalf and saying he was suffering from heart problems and asthma.

Lo Porto had been missing in Pakistan since January 2012.

"As a husband and as a father, I cannot begin to imagine the anguish that the Weinstein and Lo Porto families are enduring today ... I know that there is nothing that I can ever say or do to ease the heartache," Obama said.

Weinstein's wife, Emily, said his family was devastated.

"We were so hopeful that those in the US and Pakistani governments with the power to take action and secure his release would have done everything possible to do so and there are no words to do justice to the disappointment and heartbreak we are going through," she said.

Italian media said Lo Porto, from Palermo, Sicily, was kidnapped three days after arriving in Pakistan in January 2012 to build houses for flood victims.

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