UN official seeks end of CIA drone strikes

A senior official of the United Nations said the life and death power of drones should be entrusted to regular armed forces, not intelligence agencies, the New York Times reported on Thursday.

Philip Alston is expected to call on the United States next week to stop CIA drone strikes against people suspected of belonging to al Qaeda.

Alston also plans to deliver a report on June 3 to the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva regarding the issue.

He also contrasted how the military and the CIA. responded to allegations that strikes had killed civilians by mistake. He said that when civilians are killed in drone strikes by the CIA, there is no accountability as it does not have to provide answers, whereas with the Defense Department one has accountability.

In recent months, top lawyers of the State Department and the Defense Department are trying to show that the CIA's use of drones is lawful.