Amid doubts, US officials retract claim that senior Al-Qaeda figure killed in drone strike

By Dilara Hamit

ANKARA (AA) - US military officials have retracted their initial claim that a recent drone strike in Syria killed a senior al-Qaeda figure.

This follows after the family of the deceased insisted that he had no ties with terrorists.

According to the Washington Post the victim, Lotfi Hassan Misto, 56, was identified by his family as the individual targeted in the Predator drone strike on May 3.

Interviews with Misto’s brother, son, and six others who knew him revealed that he was a former bricklayer who lived a quiet life in a town in northwest Syria. Those close to him described him as a kind and hard-working man, whose entire existence was characterized by poverty.

The initial claims by US military officials suggested that the strike had successfully targeted an influential al-Qaeda figure.

However, these assertions have now been called into question, as the family vehemently denies any involvement with terrorist groups and insists that Misto was innocently engaged in his daily routine at the time of the attack.

The operation, overseen by the US Central Command, initially claimed to have targeted a "senior Al Qaeda leader," but no evidence or suspect was named.

The officials, speaking anonymously, stated that the Pentagon is no longer confident that the strike successfully killed a high-ranking al-Qaeda figure.

“We are no longer confident we killed a senior AQ official,” the Washington Post cited one US military official as saying.

However, another official told the US media that they believe that the person killed may still have had ties to al-Qaeda.

These statements were made in the context of an ongoing investigation into the incident.