US Drone Strikes Have Killed Four Americans

The US government has admitted publicly for the first time that four American ciitizens have been killed in drone strikes since 2009 in Pakistan and Yemen.

The disclosure comes ahead of a major national security speech by Barack Obama in which he plans to pledge more transparency to Congress in his counter-terrorism policy.

The White House said the President's speech on Thursday coincides with the signing of new "presidential policy guidance" on when the US can use drone strikes.

However, it is unclear what that guidance entails and whether Mr Obama will outline its specifics in his remarks.

A move to gradually shift responsibility for the bulk of US drone strikes from the CIA to the military has already begun.

The CIA looks set to continue to conduct operations in Pakistan, while the military takes on operations in other parts of the world.

It was already known that three Americans had been killed in US drone strikes in counter-terrorism operations overseas, but the government's top lawyer, Attorney General Eric Holder, disclosed details that had remained secret, including the fourth citizen killed.

In a letter to the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, Mr Holder said the government targeted and killed US citizen Anwar al Awlaki and that the US "is aware" of the killing of three others who were not targets of counter-terror operations.

Al Awlaki, a radical Muslim cleric and senior leader of al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, was killed in a drone strike in September 2011 in Yemen.

The other two known cases have been Samir Khan, who was killed in the same drone strike as al Awlaki and al Awlaki's 16-year-old son, Abdulrahman, who also was killed in Yemen.

The newly-revealed case is that of Jude Kenan Mohammad, one of eight men indicted by federal authorities in 2009 and accused of being part of a plot to attack the US Marine Corps base at Quantico, Virginia.

Before he could be arrested, Mohammad fled the country to join jihadist fighters in the tribal areas of Pakistan, where he was among those killed by a US drone.

He was arrested in 2008 by Pakistani authorities and then released on bail. He later failed to show up for a court hearing.

"Since entering office, the president has made clear his commitment to providing Congress and the American people with as much information as possible about our sensitive counter-terrorism operations," Mr Holder said in his letter.

"To this end, the president has directed me to disclose certain information that until now has been properly classified."

Mr Obama's speech is expected to reaffirm his national security priorities - from homegrown terrorists to killer drones to the enemy combatants imprisoned at Guantanamo Bay - but make no new sweeping policy announcements.

He is expected to say the US will make a renewed effort to transfer many of the 166 detainees out of the US Navy-run detention centre.