Drones have killed 4,700: US senator

A US senator says assassination drone strikes have killed around 4,700 people, including civilians, a number that exceeds some independent estimates of the toll.

According to AFP, Republican Senator Lindsey Graham, a staunch supporter of drone use, said on Wednesday: “We’ve killed 4,700.”
Graham defended President Barack Obama’s use of drones to carry out assassinations overseas, saying “It’s a weapon that needs to be used.”
The senator noted: “It’s a tactical weapon. A drone is an unmanned aerial vehicle that is now armed.”
US officials refuse to publicly discuss any details of the covert program and the death toll from drone strikes remains a mystery.
A report by the Washington-based New America Foundation has said that there have been 350 US drone strikes since 2004, most of them during President Obama’s terms in office. The foundation has put the death toll between 1,963 and 3,293, with 261 to 305 civilians killed.
According to the London-based Bureau of Investigative Journalism, between 2,627 and 3,457 people have been killed by US drones in Pakistan since 2004, including between 475 and nearly 900 civilians.
Graham, however, did not make it clear weather the figure was the US government’s own estimate of casualties from drone strikes.
The use of assassination drones overseas under the administration of Obama has caused a national debate.