Rome accord after row over hostages

Britain and Italy are setting up a joint counter-terrorism group to improve co-operation following the failed hostage rescue bid in Nigeria.

Engineers Christopher McManus and Franco Lamolinara were killed by their captors earlier this month as UK special forces and Nigerian troops tried to save them.

The deaths sparked a diplomatic row between London and Rome, with Italian politicians complaining they had not been told about the operation until it was under way.

In a joint statement issued after talks in Rome, Foreign Secretary William Hague and his Italian counterpart Giulio Terzi said: “We confirmed our intention to intensify our already close co-operation and agreed to establish a UK-Italy high level group on terrorism to oversee this work.”