US military officials are backtracking claims that a senior al Qaeda leader was killed in a recent drone strike in Syria, a senior US defense official confirmed to Fox News.
The family of Lotfi Hassan Misto, 56, identified him as the person killed by the US missile on May 3.
They claim he had no ties to terrorist organizations and was tending his sheep when he was killed.
PAKISTANI OFFICER ACCUSED OF SHOOTING AT GIRLS’ SCHOOL BUS, KILLING 8-YEAR-OLD GIRL
An MQ-9 Reaper remotely piloted aircraft (RPA) flies during a training mission. (Isaac Brekken/Getty Images)
The story was first reported by the Washington Post.
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Misto’s family told the Post that he was a father of 10 who lived quietly in a city in northwestern Syria and spent most of his life in poverty.
