Federal prosecutors last year opened an investigation into whether the German's October 2010 death in a drone strike against extremists in the town of Mir Ali constituted a war crime under international law. The victim was identified only as Buenyamin E. In keeping with German privacy rules.
The US programme of drone strikes against militant extremists is deeply unpopular in Pakistan.
German prosecutors said today they dropped their investigation after determining that the German didn't count as a civilian covered by international humanitarian law because he was a member of an organised armed group.
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