Donald Trump has scrapped a policy requiring US intelligence officials to publish the number of civilians killed in drone strikes outside active war zones.

The rule was introduced by Barack Obama in 2016 in an attempt to improve transparency and minimise non-combatant casualties during operations against terrorist targets.

Human rights groups described President Trump’s decision to revoke executive order 13732 as “shameful” and “deeply wrong”, while security experts suggested it was an attempt to conceal deaths from drone strikes carried out by the CIA.

Other legislation still requires the secretary of defence to release an annual report on “civilian casualties caused as a result of United States military operations.” Drone strikes can also be undertaken by the CIA.

Daphne Eviatar, Amnesty International USA’s director of security with human rights, said: “This is a shameful decision that will shroud this administration’s actions in even more secrecy with little accountability for its victims.

“The public deserves to know how many civilians are killed by US actions. This is an unconscionable decision and in complete disregard of fundamental human rights.

“It is incomprehensible that this vital work will be left only to human rights organisations such as ours.”

Syria air strikes: US, UK and France joint military action Show all 21 1 /21 Syria air strikes: US, UK and France joint military action Syria air strikes: US, UK and France joint military action A picture released by the French Defence audiovisual communication and production unit (ECPAD) shows the launching of a cruise missile from a French military vessel in the Mediterranean sea towards targets in Syria overnight. The United States, France and Britain carried out a wave of punitive strikes against Bashar al-Assad's Syrian regime in the early hours of April 14 in response to alleged chemical weapons attacks. AFP/Getty Syria air strikes: US, UK and France joint military action Rafale warplanes being prepared for take off at the Saint-Dizier aerial military base, eastern France. Media reports state that the United States, France and Britain launched military strikes in Syria to punish President Bashar Assad for an apparent chemical attack against civilians and to deter him from doing it again. EPA Syria air strikes: US, UK and France joint military action Damascus skies erupt with missile fire as the US launches an attack on Syria targeting different parts of the capital. President Donald Trump announced airstrikes in retaliation for the country's alleged use of chemical weapons. AP Syria air strikes: US, UK and France joint military action A map show the location of the air strikes carried out by the US-led coalition in Syria overnight. US Department of Defense Syria air strikes: US, UK and France joint military action The wreckage of a building described as part of the Scientific Studies and Research Centre compound in the Barzeh district, north of Damascus. AFP/Getty Syria air strikes: US, UK and France joint military action Royal Air Force tornado jets take off in the early hours from RAF Akrotiri airbase in Cyprus to conduct air strikes in Syria. Four Tornado jets fired Storm Shadow missiles "at a military facility -- a former missile base -- some 15 miles (24 kilometres) west of Homs, where the regime is assessed to keep chemical weapon precursors," the defence ministry said in a statement. AFP/Getty Syria air strikes: US, UK and France joint military action Map of where the air strikes hit in Syria released by the Pentagon. A Syrian military statement says the US, Britain and France fired 110 missiles during a joint attack on targets in Damascus and outside. Pentagon Syria air strikes: US, UK and France joint military action A photo released on the Twitter page of Hezbollah's "Central War Media" account shows night footage of flares above Damascus seen through a night-vision device as Western strikes reportedly hit Syrian military bases and chemical research centres in and around Syria's capital. US, France, and Britain announced the joint operation. AFP/Getty Syria air strikes: US, UK and France joint military action The preliminary damage assessment of Barzah research and development centre before and after the air strikes, released by the Pentagon. Pentagon Syria air strikes: US, UK and France joint military action The preliminary damage assessment of Him Shinshar chemical weapons bunker before the air strikes. Pentagon Syria air strikes: US, UK and France joint military action The preliminary damage assessment of Him Shinshar chemical weapons bunker after the air strikes. Pentagon Syria air strikes: US, UK and France joint military action The wreckage of a building described as part of the Scientific Studies and Research Centre compound in the Barzeh district, north of Damascus. AFP/Getty Syria air strikes: US, UK and France joint military action The wreckage of a building described as part of the Scientific Studies and Research Centre compound in the Barzeh district, north of Damascus. AFP/Getty Syria air strikes: US, UK and France joint military action The wreckage of a building described as part of the Scientific Studies and Research Centre compound in the Barzeh district, north of Damascus. AFP/Getty Syria air strikes: US, UK and France joint military action The preliminary damage assessment of Him Shinshar chemical weapons storage site before and after the air strikes, released by the Pentagon. Pentagon Syria air strikes: US, UK and France joint military action The preliminary damage assessment of Him Shinshar chemical weapons storage site before the air strikes. Pentagon Syria air strikes: US, UK and France joint military action The preliminary damage assessment of Him Shinshar chemical weapons storage site after the air strikes. Pentagon Syria air strikes: US, UK and France joint military action A British military Typhoon aircraft lands at the Sovereign Base Area (SBA) of Akrotiri, a British overseas territory located ten kilometres west of the southern Cypriot port city of Limassol, following US, British and French strikes on Syria. Syrian state media slammed Western strikes on Saturday as illegal and "doomed to fail," after the US, Britain and France launched a joint operation against the Damascus.government. Huge blasts were reported around the Syrian capital, moments after the three Western governments announced they were striking Syria's chemical weapons capabilities. AFP/Getty Images Syria air strikes: US, UK and France joint military action The preliminary damage assessment of Him Shinshar chemical weapons bunker before and after the air strikes, released by the Pentagon. Pentagon Syria air strikes: US, UK and France joint military action The preliminary damage assessment of Him Shinshar chemical weapons bunker before the air strikes. Pentagon Syria air strikes: US, UK and France joint military action The preliminary damage assessment of Him Shinshar chemical weapons bunker after the air strikes. Pentagon

Hina Shamsi, director of the American Civil Liberties Union’s National Security Project, said: “President Trump has already weakened rules that sought to limit civilian deaths caused by this country’s illegal and immoral lethal force programme, in which it kills suspects in places where we are not at war. This order now shrouds those killings in even greater secrecy.

“Trump’s decision to increase secrecy about the United States’ killing of people abroad is deeply wrong and dangerous for public accountability.

“Trump revoked a transparency order that provided an imperfect but still important record of deaths caused by the military and, critically, the CIA. This decision will hide from the public the government’s own tally of the total number of deaths it causes every year in its lethal force programme.”

Adam Schiff, the Democrat chair of the House of Representatives Intelligence Committee, described the president’s move as “a troubling retreat from transparency” and said there was “simply no justification” for cancelling it.

“Today’s decision underscores the need for Congress to make this reporting mandatory, something I intend to pursue through the Intelligence Authorization Act this year,” he added.

A White House official, speaking on condition of anonymity, claimed that Mr Trump’s move “eliminates superfluous reporting requirements” that “distract our intelligence professionals from their primary mission.”

“The United States government is fully committed to complying with its obligations under the law of armed conflict, minimising, to the greatest extent possible, civilian casualties, and acknowledging responsibility when they unfortunately occur during military operations,” the official said.

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The watchdog group Airwars concluded between 3,923 and 6,102 non-combatants were “likely killed” in air and artillery strikes by the United States and its allies in Iraq and Syria alone that year.