Hundreds of people packed a Rome church today to pay their last respects to an Italian intelligence officer shot and killed by American troops in Iraq while escorting a former hostage to freedom.

The Italian journalist who was wounded by US gunfire in Baghdad today said she had not ruled out the possibility that troops shot at her car deliberately.

The Italian journalist who was wounded by American troops in Baghdad shortly after she was released by her Iraqi captors denied US allegations that the car she was in was speeding, and described how the agent who had rescued her died protecting her.

Freed hostage Giuliana Sgrena returned to Italy from Iraq on today hours after US troops fired on the car she was in, wounding her and killing an Italian intelligence officer who apparently tried to protect her.

American troops fired on a car rushing Italian journalist Giuliana Sgrena to freedom after a month in captivity, killing an Italian intelligence officer who helped negotiate her release and wounding the reporter in another friendly-fire tragedy at a US checkpoint in Baghdad.