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President Barack Obama has defended the use of drones in a "just war" of self-defence against deadly militants and a campaign that had made America safer, BBC reported. 

In a wide-ranging speech on a programme shrouded in secrecy, he said there must be "near certainty" that no civilians would die in such strikes.

In a renewed push to shut Guantanamo Bay, he said he had lifted a moratorium on prisoner transfers to Yemen.

Mr Obama also defended the use of drones to kill four US citizens.

"We are at war with an organisation that right now would kill as many Americans as they could if we did not stop them first," he said in Thursday's address at the National Defense University in Washington DC.

"So this is a just war - a war waged proportionally, in last resort, and in self-defence."

He added: "And yet as our fight enters a new phase, America's legitimate claim of self-defence cannot be the end of the discussion. To say a military tactic is legal, or even effective, is not to say it is wise or moral in every instance."

Declaring America at a "crossroads" in its efforts to combat militancy, Mr Obama also said his administration would be willing to accept increased oversight of drone strikes outside war zones like Afghanistan.