BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Italian journalist Giuliana Sgrena was freed by her captors on Friday but U.S. forces mistakenly opened fire on the convoy taking her to safety, wounding her and killing an Italian secret service agent.

Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi said he had immediately summoned the U.S. ambassador, declaring someone had to take responsibility for U.S. soldiers opening fire.

He told a news conference the agent was shot dead at a U.S. checkpoint and that Sgrena had been wounded in the shoulder.

"This news which should have be a moment of celebration, has been ruined by this firefight," said Gabriele Polo, editor of the Communist Rome-based Il Manifesto newspaper.

"An Italian agent has been killed by an American bullet. A tragic demonstration which we never wanted that everything that's happening in Iraq (news - web sites) is completely senseless and mad," he told Sky Italia television, struggling to fight back tears.

The U.S. military had no immediate comment.

The 57-year-old Sgrena was kidnapped on Feb. 4. Insurgents later released a video of her sobbing and wringing her hands as she pleaded for Italian troops to leave Iraq.

In new video aired on Al Jazeera on Friday, Sgrena was shown wearing a black dress and sitting in front of a table with a plate of fruit. Jazeera said that on the tape, Sgrena thanked her captors for treating her well.

Sgrena was one of two female Western journalists abducted in Baghdad this year. Florence Aubenas of France's Liberation was seized along with her Iraqi driver on Jan. 5.

Aubenas appeared in a videotape distributed by her captors this week, looking distraught and exhausted.

More than 150 foreigners, including several Western journalists, have been seized by insurgents over the past year. Most have been freed but many have been killed -- sometimes in beheadings that were filmed and posted on the Internet.

The kidnappings have highlighted the lawlessness gripping large areas of Iraq where insurgents mount frequent attacks, crime is rife and Iraqi forces have little control.

Last year, Italian journalist Enzo Baldoni was seized south of Baghdad and later killed by his captors.

Six other Italians have been kidnapped in Iraq. Four private security guards were kidnapped in April and one was later killed, and in September two female Italian aid workers were snatched in Baghdad before being released three weeks later.

The hostage crises have fueled criticism in Italy of the government's backing for the war in Iraq.

CAR BOMB, ASSASSINATION

Insurgents trying to overthrow Iraq's U.S.-backed government mounted fresh attacks on Friday. In Baquba, northeast of Baghdad, a car bomb killed one civilian, police said.

In the mainly Shi'ite southern Iraq town of Budair, the local police chief was assassinated. The Polish military, which is in charge of security in the area, said Colonel Ghaib Hadab Zarib was shot dead by gunmen armed with AK-47s.

In the restive northern city of Mosul, a car bomb exploded near a U.S. military convoy. Al Qaeda's wing in Iraq issued an Internet statement claiming responsibility for the blast and saying it was a suicide bombing. The U.S. military said it had no immediate information on any casualties.

In another Internet statement on Friday, the al Qaeda group in Iraq led by Jordanian militant Abu Musab al-Zarqawi said a string of suicide attacks in recent days disproved assertions by the Iraqi government that the network was crumbling.

"What happened ... and will happen in coming days is a response to infidel deceptions and claims that the mujahideen are weaker and that their attacks have abated," said the statement attributed to the military commander of the Al Qaeda Organization for Holy War in Iraq, Abu Aseed al-Iraqi.

On Monday, a suicide bomb for which the group claimed responsibility killed 125 people south of Baghdad -- the deadliest single insurgent attack since Saddam Hussein (news - web sites) fell.

The group also said it carried out two suicide bombings in Baghdad on Thursday in a bid to assassinate the interior minister. The minister was unhurt but five police were killed.

Iraq's government says it has captured several key al Qaeda leaders and the net is closing on Zarqawi.

But the group's Internet statement was defiant. "Iraq's plains and deserts have turned into volcanoes erupting beneath the infidels and all around them," it said. "We call on all Muslims who cherish their faith to strike with the sword." (Additional reporting by Firouz Sedarat in Dubai and Roberto Landucci in Rome)

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Oops.

I should hold a Photoshop contest for whoever can make the most creative image based on the words "War is hell".

Unfortunately, there's no need for Photoshop to demonstrate that statement.

*plays Masters Of War*

I don't have photoshop, but my idea is the cover of Ryan Adams' Love Is Hell part 2, with War instead of Love.

A gif of a worm from the worms game would be superior.

I read somewhere else she was freed by the Italian agents then later mistakenly fired upon by US troops?

lol, duh sorry

well italians have big nose,arabs too...its easy to mistake each other

So it's fine to shoot at any random Arab now?

Now?

Think if you were a soilder and a speeding vehicle was approaching a checkpoint you and your fellow soldiers were guarding w/out any prior warning(as far as we know yet) on the most danagerous stretch of highway in the world.

Considering all the car bombs and checkpoint attacks these terrorist have inflicted on forces, how fast would you have reacted? How long would you have waited before firing your weapon? These soldiers have to make split decisions in a matter of seconds time.

Yeah, heaven forbid there had been some actual communication involved so the soldiers knew what to be expecting. And there's been no comment yet on the circumstances around the shooting, so to assume the vehicle was speeding toward the checkpoint isn't applicable unless you have some proof to back that up. Regardless, my beef is that there should have been better communication between the Italians and the Americans, period.

Here's an article.
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=s ... hooting_dc
Freed Italian Hostage Recalls U.S. Shooting

ROME (Reuters) - Freed Italian hostage Giuliana Sgrena described on Saturday how U.S. forces sprayed her car with bullets as it neared safety in Iraq (news - web sites), wounding her and killing the man who had secured her release moments earlier.

U.S. forces opened fire as the car carrying Sgrena neared Baghdad airport on Friday after she was released by the militants who had held her captive for more than a month.

Sgrena, a 57-year-old award-winning war reporter, returned to Rome on Saturday and looked in pain as she was helped off a government plane, clutching a plaid blanket and attached to a drip and was put into an ambulance.

"We thought the danger was over after my release to the Italians but all of a sudden there was this shoot-out, we were hit by a barrage of bullets," she told RAI TV by telephone.

Nicola Calipari, the senior secret service agent who had worked for her release, was telling her about what had been going on in Italy since her capture when the shooting started.

"He leaned over me, probably to protect me, and then he slumped down, and I saw he was dead," said Sgrena.

The U.S. military said its forces fired because the car was speeding toward their checkpoint.

But in comments reported by ANSA news agency, Sgrena told Rome investigating magistrates during a debriefing that the car was not going fast and there was no real checkpoint.

"The firing was not justified by the speed of our car," she reportedly said, adding it was traveling at a "regular" speed.

"It wasn't a checkpoint, but a patrol which shot as soon as it had lit us up with a spotlight. We had no idea where the shots were coming from."

OPPOSITION

Doctors said Sgrena was in stable condition after suffering a gunshot wound to her left shoulder, fracturing a bone and causing bruising to a lung.

The incident could rekindle anti-war sentiment in Italy, where public opinion opposed the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq.

It has caused the worst fall out in years between the United States and Italy, with Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi taking the rare step of summoning the U.S. ambassador for an explanation.

In a telephone call, Bush promised Berlusconi a full investigation.

Berlusconi defied public opinion by sending 3,000 soldiers to Iraq after the U.S.-led invasion in March 2003 and has rejected past calls to withdraw the troops.

Italy's center-left, which hopes to unseat Berlusconi next year in elections and to weaken his standing at local government polls next month, is campaigning on a platform of withdrawing.



DELIBERATE

While moderate opposition leaders were cautious in their criticism, hardline leftists said the shooting would galvanize anti-war opinion.

"I don't believe a word of the American version," said Oliviero Diliberto, head of the Italian Communist party, part of the main left-wing block led by former premier Romano Prodi.

"The Americans deliberately fired on Italians. This is huge. All of the center-left must vote in parliament for the withdrawal of our troops."

Foreign Minister Gianfranco Fini, who will address the lower house on the incident on Tuesday, said it would not harm ties with Washington.

"My position on the United States will not change one iota from what I have expressed a thousand times," Fini told leading daily newspaper Corriere della Sera. "This was a macabre twist of fate, a tragedy determined by destiny."

Sgrena's partner Pier Scolari, speaking outside the hospital where she is being treated, accused U.S. forces of, at best, recklessness and even suggested the troops had targeted Sgrena.

"I hope the Italian government does something because either this was an ambush, as I think, or we are dealing with imbeciles or terrorized kids who shoot at anyone," he said.

Two other secret service agents were also wounded in the shooting. One returned with Sgrena, the other, more seriously wounded, is being treated in Iraq.

(Additional reporting by Antonella Cinelli)

I find it interesting that you chose to bold the first line and not the following parts.

Don't ask questions Hinny. Just shutup and support the troops. Besides, she's a communist anyway.

Cause if you would've read ElPhantasmo's post, I was responding to his comment about circumstances for the shooting. That's why I bolded the sentence. Read below where he asked. Clear now?