Italy seeks answers on Iraq death
(CNN) -- Italy's Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi says he has asked the United States for answers about the shooting death of an Italian intelligence officer in Iraq, who was killed while escorting a freed Italian hostage to the airport.
"Given that the fire came from an American source I called in the American ambassador," Berlusconi told reporters Friday.
"I believe we must have an explanation for such a serious incident, for which someone must take the responsibility."
The shooting occurred Friday at a military checkpoint near the airport in Baghdad. U.S. military officials said the incident was under investigation.
In a written statement, Multi-National Forces said that at 8:55 p.m. (1755 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."
Berlusconi said the Italian former hostage, journalist Giuliana Sgrena, was injured in the fire but editors with Il Manifesto said her wounds were not life-threatening.
Sgrena, who had been freed earlier Friday after a month in captivity, was wounded and later taken to a U.S. hospital in Baghdad for treatment.
Il Manifesto, the newspaper that Sgrena worked for, said the person killed was Nicola Calipari, a member of the security forces who was accompanying Sgrena.
Berlusconi said Sgrena, 56, was in a car with three Italian security officers when they arrived at the checkpoint and were fired upon.
Calipari shielded Sgrena and was fatally wounded, Berlusconi said.
Sgrena got a splinter in her left shoulder, he said. She later spoke to someone with Berlusconi's office and said she was fine and would have simple surgery.
Berlusconi is a staunch supporter of U.S. President George W. Bush, backing the U.S.-led invasion and sending in the Italian troops after Saddam Hussein was toppled in 2003.
Earlier Friday, the Italian government confirmed Sgrena had been freed.
"She should board a plane in the coming hours and should be back in Rome later tonight," Margherita Boniver, an undersecretary at the Italian foreign ministry, told Sky Italia television.
Sgrena was kidnapped outside a Baghdad mosque on February 4. Later that month, she was shown in a video pleading for her life and urging her government to work for an end to the foreign occupation of Iraq.
The tape was shown on the same day that Italy's Senate voted to extend the funding for the deployment.
Sgrena also asked her partner, Pierre Scolari, to show pictures she had taken of Iraqi children being hit by cluster bombs.
Il Manifesto is a left-leaning newspaper that has long opposed the Iraq war.
Thousands of Italians have taken part in vigils calling for Sgrena's safe return home.
At least eight Italians have been taken hostage in Iraq. Another journalist, Enzo Baldoni, was seized in August 2004 and later killed by his captors.
Berlusconi's government said it would try to secure her freedom but, as in past hostage cases, refused to withdraw Italian troops in Iraq, as hostage-takers have often demanded.
Italy currently has about 3,000 troops in Iraq, the fourth largest foreign contingent after U.S., British and South Korean forces.
Despite the release of Sgrena, there was no news about French journalist Florence Aubenas, who was seized in Baghdad on January 5.
Aubenas made a desperate appeal for help in a video tape released by Iraqi insurgents on Tuesday.
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Associated Press contributed to this report.
