ROME - Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi will address parliament Thursday on the fatal shooting of an Italian secret service agent by US troops in Baghdad, parliamentary leaders said Monday.
A meeting of parliamentary group presidents Monday decided that Berlusconi's address will be followed by a debate but there will be no vote on the issue.
Italy is preparing to release its own report Monday into the fatal shooting which is expected to differ from the US report released Sunday.
The 42-page US military report -- much of it censored -- exonerated the soldiers over the killing of Nicola Calipari, 51, shot as he accompanied freed Italian hostage, journalist Giuliana Sgrena, to Baghdad airport on March 4.
The US report said soldiers shone a spotlight at the approaching car, pointed a green laser light at its windscreen, shouted and fired warning shots before shooting dead Calipari and wounding both Sgrena and the driver Andrea Carpani.
Italian authorities have rejected the conclusions of the US report which suggested the car was travelling too fast when it approached the US roadblock at night, without warning.
"We believe the accident happened in a different way than that described by the Americans. We have witnesses including the agent who was driving the car, who describes things differently," said Italian foreign ministry under secretary Alfredo Mantica.
05/02/2005 17:41 GMT