Italian investigators have blamed US military authorities for failing to signal there was a checkpoint ahead on the Baghdad road where American soldiers killed an Italian agent, saying in a report that stress, inexperience and fatigue played a role in the shooting.

Italy is expected to pick apart US conclusions on the shooting by American soldiers of an Italian agent in Baghdad, challenging a report that cleared US troops of any wrongdoing in the incident.

Italy is unhappy with American investigators’ plans to clear US troops of any responsibility in the killing of an Italian security agent in Iraq last month, Italian newspapers reported today.

Demanding answers and disputing Washington’s version of events, Italy’s premier said an Italian intelligence agent who was shot to death by US troops in Baghdad had informed the proper authorities he was heading to the airport with a freed hostage.

The US military decided to speed up its inquiry into why American troops opened fire on a car carrying an Italian journalist rescued from insurgents in Iraq, killing the Italian intelligence agent who had helped save her.

Italy’s foreign minister today accepted that US troops killed an Italian intelligence officer by accident, but disputed Washington’s version of events and demanded a comprehensive investigation.

The car carrying an Italian intelligence officer who was killed by US fire in Baghdad was not speeding and was not ordered to stop as American officials have indicated, Italy’s foreign minister said today.

US forces in Iraq, already implicated in the killing of an Italian secret agent, faced further strains with allies yesterday when Bulgaria said they had probably shot dead one of its soldiers.

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.

A state funeral for an Italian intelligence officer shot and killed by American troops in Iraq while escorting an ex-hostage to freedom was due to take place today, as a steady stream of shocked Italians viewed the man’s body lying in state in Rome.

ITALIAN hostage Giuliana Sgrena, shot and wounded after being freed in Iraq claimed that US forces may have deliberately targeted her because Washington opposed Italy’s policy of dealing with kidnappers.

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.

The Italian Prime Minister, Silvio Berlusconi, has protested strongly to the US ambassador in Rome about the fatal shooting by US soldiers of an Italian security agent and the wounding of an Italian journalist who had been held hostage in Iraq.

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.

An Italian newspaper reporter, held captive in Iraq for a month after being abducted in a Baghdad street, was released today.

Shiite Muslims, many kneeling in prayer, were attacked in their mosques and on the streets on the eve of their holiest day, with five bombings killing 36 people in the deadliest day in Iraq since the January 30 national elections.

LEADERS of the Shi’ite political alliance that won Iraq’s election failed to agree on a single nominee for prime minister yesterday.

Sobbing and clasping her hands together in prayer, kidnapped Italian journalist Giuliana Sgrena appeared on a new video today pleading for her life and calling on US-led troops to pull out of Iraq.

The Italian hostage Giuliana Sgrena will be released in the next few days, according to an internet statement today in the name of the Iraqi militant group holding her.

GUNMEN seized four Egyptian engineers in Baghdad yesterday, underlining Iraq’s dangers despite its recent election and steps toward democracy.

The purported kidnappers of an Italian journalist abducted in Iraq claimed they are still interrogating her and said it is giving Rome a final warning to withdraw its troops from the country, according to a statement posted on the Internet today.

Gunmen waylaid a minibus carrying foreign technicians to their jobs at a mobile telephone company in western Baghdad today, seizing four Egyptians in the second kidnapping of foreigners in the Iraqi capital within a week.

Insurgents launched fresh attacks, killing four US soldiers and four Iraqi security troops in roadside bombings, as partial returns from the historic elections show a Shiite alliance with ties to Iran rolling up a strong lead over pro-US Prime Minister Ayad Allawi.

GUNMEN kidnapped an Italian journalist in Baghdad yesterday, the latest in a series of brazen abductions but the first since Iraq’s election.

An Italian woman journalist was kidnapped near Baghdad University today.