"He takes full responsibility for these operations and believes it is important to provide the American people with as much information as possible about our counterterrorism operations, particularly when they take the lives of fellow citizens," the statement said.
The slain hostages were US citizen Dr. Warren Weinstein, held by al-Qaeda since 2011, and Italian national Giovanni Lo Porto, held hostage since 2012, according to the White House.
Two other US citizens were killed by US government counterterrorism operations in the region. Ahmed Farouq, an American who was an al-Qaeda leader, was killed in the operation that killed Weinstein, while Adam Gadahn, an American who became a prominent member of al-Qaeda, was killed in a separate operation in January, according to the statement.
