Italy blames agent's slaying on stress, inexperience of US soldiers

The killing of an Italian intelligence agent in Baghdad by US soldiers was not deliberate, but as a result of stress, inexperience, fatigue and a lack of rules among the US troops, said the Italian Foreign Ministry on Monday night.

A probe found no evidence that the March 4 killing of Italian intelligence agent Nicola Calipari was deliberate, said the ministry in a report.

"The soldiers in the American patrol opened fire out of inexperience and because of the tension," it said.

The report said the US temporary roadblock near the airport, where the killing took place, was illegal because it had not been properly signaled and lacked unified command.

Calipari was shot dead at the roadblock when he was escorting a freed Italian hostage to the airport.

The report differed from the US account issued Saturday, which exonerated the US soldiers who shot Calipari. The US investigators said the American soldiers gave adequate warning before opening fire on Calipari's car which was running on high speed.

But the Italian report blamed US military authorities for failing to provide warning that there was a roadblock ahead. It also rejected the US account of the speed of the vehicle, saying the car driven by Calipari was not going fast.

The probe was jointly conducted by Italy and the US military.

The two Italians on the probe prepared the separate report. The Italians did not challenge many of the US conclusions in their report, but refused to sign on to the US report.