BAGHDAD - Italian Foreign Minister Gianfranco Fini paid a brief visit to Iraq on Wednesday and unveiled a plaque to an Italian secret agent killed by US troops as he escorted a freed hostage to Baghdad airport.
The killing of agent Nicola Calipari in March strained relations between Washington and Rome, one of the Americans' allies in Iraq.
Earlier this month Fini announced that Italy would withdraw its troops from Iraq at the latest in January or February of next year
The soldiers and police were sent there by Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi two years ago to aid the US-led coalition, despite strong public opposition which mounting after the killing of the security agent.
Fini inaugurated the plaque in memory of the agent who was killed on the road linking the capital to the airport while shepherding an Italian journalist released by hostage-takers, the Italian Embassy said.
After talks with Iraqi Prime Minister Ibrahim Jaafari and Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari, Fini was to visit the 3,000-strong Italian troop contingent in Nasiriyah, 375 kilometres (230 miles) southeast of the capital, the embassy said.
"Terrorism is trying to derail the political process (in Iraq)," Fini said at a joint news conference with his Iraqi counterpart .
On Italy's role in the US-led multinational force, Fini said Rome wanted "to help Iraq defeat terrorism".
05/25/2005 10:04 GMT