Italy dismisses US account of shooting

"It is our duty to demand truth and justice," Gianfranco Fini told parliament.

He dismissed speculation that US forces deliberately fired on the Italians but said an initial American military statement on the shooting, released hours after the attack, did "not coincide" with what Italy believed had happened.

The agent, Nicola Calipari, was hailed as a hero after he died shielding a freed hostage from US gunfire as they drove to Baghdad airport last Friday.

The killing has strained ties between the US and Italy, one of President George Bush’s staunchest allies in Europe over the war in Iraq.

The US ambassador to Italy, Mel Sembler, met a government official in Rome yesterday and invited the Italians to take part in an army inquiry into the incident, which the military said would take three to four weeks to complete.

The freed hostage, Giuliana Sgrena, has suggested they were fired at because the US opposes Rome’s practice of negotiating with kidnappers.

That was dismissed by Mr Fini. He said: "It was certainly an accident. But this ... makes it necessary to demand that events are clarified ... to identify those responsible, and if people are to blame then to request and ensure that the guilty parties are punished."

The US military has said its soldiers fired on the Italians’ car after it approached a checkpoint at speed and failed to heed signals to slow down.

But, in a detailed reconstruction, Mr Fini insisted that the Italians had been driving slowly and had received no warning.

He added that, immediately after the shooting, US soldiers had apologised profusely to Sgrena and an unnamed Italian intelligence officer who survived the fire.

The US military said in a statement from Baghdad that Brigadier-General Peter Vangjel would lead the inquiry into the incident.