WASHINGTON, May 22 (Xinhua) -- U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder on Wednesday formally admitted the killing of four American citizens in drone strikes since 2009, one day before President Barack Obama is to deliver a major speech on counterterrorism policy.
In a letter to Congressional leaders, Holder disclosed the administration deliberately killed radical cleric Anwar al-Awlaki in a drone strike in Yemen in September 2011. The administration has previously refused to confirm or deny its involvement in the cleric's death.
The letter also admitted the administration had killed three other Americans, Samir Khan, who was killed in the same strike that killed al-Awlaki, Awlaki's son Abdulrahman, who was also killed in Yemen, and Jude Mohammed, who was killed in a strike in Pakistan. However, these men were not targets of the administration, only in the wrong place at the wrong time.
"These individuals were not specifically targeted by the United States," wrote Holder.
The Obama administration has greatly expanded secret drone strikes against terror suspects in countries like Yemen, Pakistan and Afghanistan. It only recently publicly acknowledged the controversial program.
The admission came one day before Obama's speech at the National Defense University on the administration's counterterrorism policy. According to the White House, Obama will discuss broad U.S. counterterrorism policy, including the policy and legal framework of drone use and efforts to close the detention facility at Guantanamo Bay.
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