(AGI) Washington, April 23 - An Italian aid worker, Giovanni LoPorto, was inadvertently killed by a CIA drone strike on theborder between Afghanistan and Pakistan in January. U.S.President Barack Obama disclosed the incident during a WhiteHouse speech on Thursday, explaining that the strike was a"counterterrorism operation" against an al Qaeda complex, inwhich numerous leaders of the terrorist organisation werehiding. Lo Porto, who was 38 at the time of his death, had beentaken captive in 2012. The strike also killed an Americanhostage, 72-year-old Warren Weinstein, and Ahmed Farouq, a U.S.citizen who rose to the top levels of al Qaeda's ranks. AlQaeda's former spokesman Adam Gadahn was killed in anotherdrone attack nearby. Obama expressed profound regret for theincident and said he assumed "full responsibility" for theoperation and the deaths of the two hostages. "Yesterday, Ispoke with Warren's wife Elaine and Prime Minister Renzi ofItaly. As a husband and as a father, I cannot begin to imaginethe anguish that the Weinstein and Lo Porto families areenduring today. I realize that there are no words that can everequal their loss," he stated, and offered his "deepestapologies" to the families, whom, he said, "deserve to know thetruth". "Even as certain aspects of our national securityefforts have to remain secret in order to succeed, the UnitedStates is a democracy committed to openness in good times andin bad," he explained. "Our initial assessment indicates thatthis operation was fully consistent with the guidelines underwhich we conduct counterterrorism efforts in the region," Obamasaid. The al Qaeda compound had been under surveillance fordays, with no reason to believe that hostages were being heldwithin. "It is a cruel and bitter truth that, in the fog of wargenerally and our fight against terrorists specifically,mistakes - sometimes deadly mistakes - can occur. But one ofthe things that sets America apart from many other nations, oneof the things that makes us exceptional is our willingness toconfront squarely our imperfections and to learn from ourmistakes," Obama affirmed. "Today we join their families andfriends in honoring Warren and Giovanni ... The shining exampleof these two men will stand as a light to people the world overwho see suffering and answer with compassion, who see hatredand offer their love, who see war and work for peace," heconcluded. Lo Porto was captured on January 19, 2012, while onhis way to Multan, in Pakistan's Punjab region, alongside acolleague from the German NGO Welt Hunger Hilfe. The colleague,Bernd Muehlenbeck, was freed in a mosque near Kabul in Octoberof 2014, and recounted that the kidnappers had moved Lo Porto ayear earlier.. .