Italy In Anguish Over Fate Of Aid Workers In Iraq

ROME, Sept 23 (AFP) - Italy sought on Thursday to play down the credibility of two claims about the murder of two Italian aid workers, both young women, taken hostage in Iraq but failed to ease gnawing anguish over their fate.
The authorities in Rome have "undertaken a series of actions, and for the moment, no proof has been found" to back up the alleged execution of Simona Torretta and Simona Pari, the government said in a statement.
It said it was still investigating the claims, both posted on the Internet, one overnight by a so-called Jihad Organisation, the second a few hours later by a group calling itself the Supporters of Zawahiri, named after the Egyptian number two in the Al-Qaeda network, Ayman Al-Zawahiri.
The first group claimed it had "slaughtered" the two women because Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi had not withdrawn Italy's 3,000 troops from Iraq.
The second said the woman had been killed "in response to the bloody and atrocious attack carried out by Italian forces on the Iraqi people of the city of Nasiriyah", in the south of the country.
"The heads of the two Italian criminals, Italian intelligence agents Simona Terretta and Simona Pari, were mercilessly cut off with a knife," the second group said, adding that it would broadcast a video to back up their claim.
It was impossible to verify the authenticity of either claim.
Italian news agency ANSA said an investigation carried out by Italian officials in Baghdad on Thursday had failed to find whether or not a video of the alleged execution of the two existed.
Quoting sources close to the investigation, ANSA said that their enquiries "had not uncovered elements that would lead (investigators) to consider justified the hypothesis that there existed a video of the execution of Simona Pari and Simona Torretta".
Italy said the "multiplication" of claims merely confirmed their low credibility and leads it "to believe we are probably in the middle of media terrorism".
Nevertheless, the statement heightened concern over the fate of the women, particularly as another militant group earlier this week executed two US hostages, posting the grisly video images on the Internet, and has threatened to kill a British colleague.
Torretta's mother, Anna Maria, said she had been devastated to learn of the overnight claim on the website but was later heartened by news that it could be false.
"It is true that we thought we would die when we heard the news but what is important is that it not be true," she said.
A spokesman for the influential Sunni Committee of Muslim Scholars in the Iraqi capital said Pari and Torretta were probably still alive and being held by a group with no relation to the insurgency against the US-led occupation.
"I do not think they killed them because the material gain from holding them is big," Muthana al-Dhari told AFP at the committee's headquarters in Baghdad's Umm al-Qura mosque.
"I have my doubts about the whole operation from the start because the style and method all indicate that the kidnappers are an organised gang with no connection to the resistance."
Dhari said the motive behind the kidnapping was inconsistent with the goals of the insurgency, which has said in several statements that it would only go after those cooperating with and aiding the US-led occupation.
In Baghdad, the Italian embassy said it was checking out the claims by the Jihad Organisation and could not say whether it was genuine or fake.
In its statement, the group said Pari and Torretta, both 29, were executed "after the Italian government, led by the despicable Berlusconi, did not heed our sole condition (for releasing them), which was to pull out of Iraq".
The two were snatched from their offices in the Iraqi capital on September 7, along with two Iraqi colleagues whose fate is also unclear.
The US embassy in Baghdad also said it could not confirm the deaths, while the non-governmental organization A Bridge to Baghdad, which employed the two women, also reacted with caution.
The reported execution of Pari and Torretta sparked several special television and radio bulletins in Italy.
The daily Corriere della Sera called for caution pending concrete evidence as to the women's fate. "For Italy, this has been the longest night," it said.
Other newspapers pointed to inconsistencies in the claims. "Is it credible that the kidnappers would have announced their deaths on a website rarely used by terrorist groups and would display an emblem seldom used?" questioned the daily La Repubblica.