Italy reacts with horror after journalist’s murder by Iraqi militant group

ITALY reacted with horror yesterday at the killing of an Italian journalist in Iraq, but the Italian government insisted it would stay the course in the war-torn Middle Eastern country.

Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini said the killing of freelance journalist Enzo Baldoni was “an act of barbarity, a horrendous act that has struck a courageous journalist who had gone to Iraq to help the Iraqi people.”

But Mr Frattini echoed Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi’s assertion that Italy would maintain its troop presence in Iraq despite Mr Baldoni’s killing.

“The Italian undertaking in Iraq cannot and should not change,” he said.

The Arabic TV network Al-Jazeera reported that it had received a video that appeared to show the hostage’s killing, sent by a group calling itself The Islamic Army in Iraq.

Mr Berlusconi’s decision to back US President George Bush in Iraq defied public opinion. Before the conflict began, a million people marched through the streets of Rome against the war - one of Europe’s biggest anti-war protests.