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The US announced it would release, for the first time, figures of combatants and civilians killed by US drone strikes during counter-terrorism operations, Deutsche Welle reports citing President Barack Obama's Homeland Security advisor.

Lisa Monaco, President Barack Obama's advisor, said figures would be released in the "coming weeks" of people killed in drone strikes since 2009, including both fighters and civilians, the reports says, adding that, however, there will be certain limitations to the published data.

"In the coming weeks, the administration will publicly release an assessment of combatant and non-combatant casualties resulting from strikes taken outside areas of active hostilities since 2009," Monaco said. She added that the report would then be published annually.

"We know that not only is greater transparency the right thing to do, it is the best way to maintain the legitimacy of our counter-terrorism effort and the broad support of our allies," Monaco said as quoted by the agency.

According to the report, the figures would, however, not cover strikes in "areas of active hostilities," such as Iraq, Syria and Afghanistan, where hostilities against the US remain, she told the Council on Foreign Relations.

The US official portrayed the move as part of President Obama's efforts to make US operations more transparent.

It should be noted that the US has previously faced criticism from human rights groups for the use of drones causing civilian deaths instead of hitting intended terror targets in strikes in Pakistan, Afghanistan, Yemen, Somalia, Libya and beyond.