GOVERNMENT officials have refused to ­disclose whether or not British pilots have been involved in drone strikes over Pakistan, a legal charity confirmed ­yesterday.

Reprieve’s freedom of information requests to the Ministry of Defence about “embedded” British staff in US missions fell on deaf ears, with spokespeople limiting themselves to a cryptic “neither confirm nor deny” response.

The human rights campaign group said that the position was “at odds with recent ­comments made by the UK Defence Secretary,” after

Michael Fallon had promised to shed more light on the ­subject.
“This refusal suggests that we may be embroiled in the CIA’s secret wars in far greater ways than was thought,” said Reprieve lawyer Jennifer Gibson.

“Given the CIA’s drone programme in Pakistan has killed hundreds of civilians while operating without public accountability, that is cause for serious concern. What more don’t we know?”

She added: “Numerous ­senior military and intelligence figures have warned that secret drone programmes of this kind can actually make the situation worse, not better.

“Before heading down this path, we need a real debate, and real answers from the PM.

“We need to think very carefully about whether giving our government carte blanche to kill people anywhere in the world, without oversight, is really a good idea.”

Last week, Prime Minister David Cameron confirmed that two British citizens had been killed by an authorised milit­ary air strike in Syria.

Separate drone strikes hit Cardiff’s Reyaad Khan and Ruhul Amin from Aberdeen, who were fighting alongside Islamic State (Isis).

Mr Cameron argued before Parliament the unprecedented decision was taken “for the individual self defence of the UK.”

joanaramiro@peoples-press.com