Italy dismisses US version

2005-03-08 13:23

Rome - Italy's foreign minister Gianfranco Fini demanded on Tuesday that the United States "identify and punish" those responsible for the shooting of Rome's top intelligence agent in Iraq, Nicola Calipari.

Fini dismissed Washington's view that a lack of communication was responsible for the death of Calipari, who died in a hail of gunfire from United States troops as he escorted a freed Italian hostage to Baghdad airport last Friday.

Calipari had made "all the necessary contacts" with US authorities in Baghdad, the foreign minister said.

In his account to parliament of the shooting, which has sparked a diplomatic row with Rome's US allies, Fini said the "reconstruction" by Washington of the events which led to Calipari's death differed from Italy's.

"The reconstruction of the event does not coincide fully with what the American authorities have told us," Fini told the parliament.

"We ask for truth and justice," Fini said, though he also took pains to point out that Italy "has an old and emphatic friendship with the US".

"We hope that that within the next few hours this affirmed wish for loyal co-operation will yield its first major concrete result."

Fini however warned against creeping anti-Americanism in the country over the incident.

"We hope that this is not an opportunity to whip up political campaigns and to sow anti-American sentiment in public opinion, which certainly have no reason to exist."

- AFP