US troops attack freed journo

2005-03-05 08:03

Rome - A United States armoured vehicle in Iraq fired on a car carrying a freed Italian hostage on Friday, wounding her and killing an Italian intelligence officer, Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi said.

A spokesperson for US-led coalition forces in Baghdad confirmed the shooting, which wounded freed journalist Giuliana Sgrena, and said the car had approached a checkpoint "at a high rate of speed."

Berlusconi said US troops took Sgrena to a US military hospital, where she had a minor operation on her left shoulder to remove a piece of shrapnel. The two other intelligence agents in the car were also wounded, he said.

The editor of Sgrena's newspaper Il Manifesto, Gabriele Polo, said the secret service agent was killed when he threw himself over the freed hostage to protect her from US fire, according to the Apcom news agency.

'Someone must take responsibility'

Berlusconi, an ally of the United States who has kept troops in Iraq despite public opposition at home, said he has asked the US ambassador for an explanation.

"Given that the fire came from an American source, I called in the American ambassador," Berlusconi told reporters. "I believe we must have an explanation for such a serious incident, for which someone must take the responsibility."

Mel Sembler, the US ambassador in Italy, was expected to see Berlusconi on Friday evening, the embassy in Rome said. It had no further comment.

In Baghdad, the military said the car had been travelling fast when it approached the checkpoint.

"At approximately 20:55 tonight, coalition forces assigned to the multinational force Iraq fired on a vehicle that was approaching a coalition checkpoint in Baghdad at a high rate of speed," it said. "The recently freed Italian journalist Giuliana Sgrena was an occupant in the vehicle and was apparently injured."

"It appears a second person in the automobile was killed," and that "Sgrena is being treated by coalition force medical personnel."

Berlusconi said he had been celebrating Sgrena's release with the editor of her newspaper, Il Manifesto, and with Sgrena's partner, Pier Scolari, when he took a phone call from an agent who informed them of the shooting.

"It's a shame that the joy we all felt was turned into tragedy," Berlusconi said.

A Pentagon spokesperson, Lieutenant Colonel Barry Venable said officials were investigating.

Sgrena, 56, was abducted February 4 by gunmen who blocked her car outside Baghdad University. Last month, she was shown in a video pleading for her life and demanding that all foreign troops - including Italian forces - leave Iraq.

Her newspaper has fiercely criticized the war and Berlusconi's decision to deploy 3 000 troops after the ouster of Saddam Hussein.

More than 190 foreigners have been abducted in Iraq in the past year, and more than 30 of the hostages were killed.

- AP