ROME - Freed Italian journalist Giuliana Sgrena was wounded when US troops opened fire on a convoy carrying her to safety, and an Italian negotiator who helped secure her release was killed, her newspaper Il Manifesto said here Friday.
Italy`s Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi confirmed that Sgrena had been wounded and an Italian secret service agent killed by US troops at a coalition checkpoint in Iraq.
The journalist was taken to a US-run hospital for treatment for wounds to her shoulder after her vehicle was fired on by US troops at a coalition checkpoint, her newspaper said, adding that the 54-year-old journalist`s life was not in danger.
The negotiator, an Italian secret service agent, was shot dead in the incident as he tried to protect Sgrena, the paper said.
The ANSA news agency said two other Italian secret service agents were wounded. It is not known if they returned fire.
Only shortly before, the Italian government had confirmed Sgrena`s release, exactly a month after she was kidnapped near a Baghdad mosque while on assignment in Iraq.
In Rome, the immense joy and relief at the news of her release quickly turned to concern and anger.
Sgrena`s brother Ivan confirmed on Italian state television RAI that she had been wounded.
"There`s little to say. The Americans nearly killed her," Sgrena`s companion Pier Scolari was quoted as saying by the ANSA news agency.
Sources at the newspaper said the US troops had opened fire when the convoy in which Sgrena was travelling reached a coalition road-block as it was speeding towards Baghdad airport.
The newspaper named the dead man as Nicola Calipari, saying he was hit while trying to protect Sgrena.
Il Manifesto`s editor Gabriele Polo paid tribute to the Italian agent, crediting him with Sgrena`s release.
"Nicola Calipari is the person we must thank most for Giuliana`s release. Unfortunately, he was killed by American bullets," said Polo.
Italy`s third-highest state official, Senate speaker Marcello Pera, expressed satisfaction over Sgrena`s release and his condolences to Calipari`s family.
The journalist was kidnapped in Baghdad last month by an Iraqi group who called on Rome to withdraw its troops from Iraq.
News of the shooting dampened the mood at the Rome offices of the newspaper, where overjoyed staff were celebrating their colleague`s release and preparing for her return.
Details of the release were not immediately clear.
News of the release, first carried in an unsourced report by Al-Jazeera television, was confirmed by Italian President Carlo Azeglio Ciampi, who said he had been informed by Gianni Letta, the minister responsible for the Italian secret service.
"You can`t imagine my joy or emotion," said the 84-year-old Ciampi.
"I`m very moved and happy. The release of Giuliana Sgrena has given us women the most beautiful present for March 8," said Deputy Foreign Minister Margherita Boniver, referring to International Women`s Day next Tuesday.
Sgrena, a 56-year-old veteran Middle East correspondent for the leftist daily Il Manifesto, was abducted February 4 after visiting a Baghdad mosque where refugees have been encamped since a devastating US-led assault on the city of Fallujah in November.
Sgrena was shown pleading for her life in a video released by her kidnappers two weeks after her kidnapping in Baghdad.
Sobbing and looking thinner, she delivered an impassioned message first in Italian, then in French to plead for her life, to beg Rome to withdraw its troops from Iraq and to warn all foreigners, including journalists, to stay away from Iraq.
Berlusconi`s centre-right government rejected the plea, and within days used its majority to ensure the Italian Senate voted to extend the mission of Rome`s 3,000 troops in Iraq.
A few days after the video was shown, an estimated half a million people marched in Rome to demand her release.
Sgrena has worked since 1988 for Il Manifesto, which opposed the US-led invasion of Iraq.
03/04/2005 20:03 GMT