- ROME -- The U.S. military
command in Iraq has blocked two Italian policemen from examining the car
in which an Italian intelligence agent was shot to death in Baghdad, a
newspaper said Wednesday.
-
- Corriere della Sera said that the policemen were about
to leave when the Italian Embassy in Baghdad received an order from the
U.S. command on Monday to abort the mission for security concerns.
-
- The embassy in Baghdad reportedly alerted Rome authorities,
who called off the trip.
-
- The car, a Toyota Corolla, is reportedly still in American
hands, at Baghdad airport where it was originally rented.
-
- The Foreign Ministry in Rome declined comment on the
report, while officials at the Italian Embassy in Baghdad could not immediately
be reached. The U.S. military in Baghdad had no immediate comment.
-
- Italian authorities say that examining the vehicle is
key to assessing what happened on March 4, when U.S. troops opened fire
on the car carrying secret service agent Nicola Calipari, another intelligence
officer and journalist Giuliana Sgrena, who had just been released after
a month of captivity in Iraq.
-
- Calipari died on the spot, while the other two were wounded.
-
- Prosecutors investigating the shooting have received
photographs of the car, but they want to analyze bullet holes and other
elements, according to Corriere.
-
- Calipari's killing outraged Italians and prompted Premier
Silvio Berlusconi to demand that Washington provide an explanation. Italy
agrees that the shooting was an accident but disputes some key elements
of the U.S. account.
-
- The U.S. military said that the vehicle was speeding
and refused to stop, and that a U.S. patrol tried to warn the driver with
hand and arm signals, by flashing white lights and firing shots in front
of the car and into the car's engine block.
-
- Berlusconi said the car was traveling slowly at night
and stopped immediately when a light was flashed at it, shortly before
U.S. troops fired on the car. Foreign Minister Gianfranco Fini said the
fire appeared to have hit the right side of the car.
-
- Vowing to shed light on the incident, Washington has
ordered an investigation into the shooting, to be led by a U.S. brigadier
general with the participation of Italian officials. The joint commission
is expected to release its findings by mid-April.
-
- Copyright 2004 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
|