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Americans shoot at the freed Italian reporter
| quote: | Wounded Italian hostage back home
Italian agent killed, others wounded in checkpoint shooting
Saturday, March 5, 2005 Posted: 6:32 AM EST (1132 GMT)
BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- Italian journalist Giuliana Sgrena has returned to Rome, hours after American troops in Iraq fired on the car she was in, wounding her and killing an Italian intelligence officer escorting the former hostage.
A plane carrying Sgrena back from Iraq landed at Rome's Ciampino Airport on Saturday morning. A crowd milled around it as Sgrena's relatives and dignitaries including Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi boarded the plane to greet her.
A few moments later, she emerged, walking with assistance from two men, and was taken to a nearby ambulance.
U.S. President George W. Bush has promised to hold a full investigation into the incident, which occurred shortly after Sgrena was released following a month in captivity in Iraq.
Nicola Calipari was killed when he tried to shield the 56-year-old former hostage from gunfire as they approached a military checkpoint near the airport in Baghdad.
Calipari, who had worked to release other Italian hostages, died when he threw himself over Sgrena to protect her.
The incident came just hours after Sgrena, a reporter for the leftist Italian newspaper Il Manifesto, was freed following a month in captivity.
Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi summoned U.S. ambassador Mel Sembler on Friday night and demanded a full investigation, and took a telephone call from Bush who expressed his regrets.
"This was a call to reach out to a good friend and express our regret about the incident," White House spokesman Scott McClellan said, according to Reuters.
"The president assured Prime Minister Berlusconi that it would be fully investigated ... We're cooperating closely with Italian authorities."
Berlusconi is a staunch Bush supporter, backing the U.S.-led invasion and sending in the Italian troops after Saddam Hussein was toppled in 2003.
He said the two other people in the car contacted his office after the incident and "they were in disbelief at the fatality at the end of a brilliantly concluded operation." (Full story)
Sgrena's partner said he could not fault the U.S. soldiers, telling Reuters they were probably "scared boys," and the blame lay with those who had sent them to Iraq.
But CNN's Alessio Vinci reported that Saturday's Il Manifesto newspaper had accused U.S. forces of "assassinating" Calipari.
In a written statement, Multi-National Forces said that at 9 p.m. (1800 GMT) they opened fire on a vehicle that was approaching a checkpoint at a high speed.
U.S. troops "attempted to warn the driver to stop by hand and arm signals, flashing white lights, and firing warning shots in front of the car," the statement said.
"When the driver didn't stop, the soldiers shot into the engine block, which stopped the vehicle, killing one and wounding two others."
CNN's Nic Robertson said coalition forces's rule of engagement permit them to use escalating levels of force if they fel threatened. They can use lethal force, for example, if a car refuses to stop for a checkpoint.
The road where the incident took place, near Baghdad's airport, was particularly dangerous, Robertson added.
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I mean, how stupid can you get?
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1+1=10
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