Italian official killed in Iraq by US army

[Serrart]

This is a tough evening, in Italy, in case you didn't know yet:

http://www.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/meast/...ain/index.html

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According to a multinational forces statement, the car approached the checkpoint at high speed about 9 p.m. (1 p.m. ET)

U.S. troops "attempted to warn the driver to stop by hand and arm signals, flashing white lights, and firing warning shots in front of the car," the statement said. "When the driver didn't stop, the soldiers shot into the engine block, which stopped the vehicle, killing one and wounding two others."

The statement said the other wounded person was a man who was treated at the scene but refused to go to the hospital.

Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi told reporters that Sgrena, 56, was in a car with three Italian security officers. (Full story)

Nicola Calipari was shielding Sgrena when he was killed, Berlusconi said.

Sgrena told Italian officials that she has a splinter in her left shoulder and will have minor surgery, Berlusconi said.

Berlusconi said he called U.S. Ambassador to Italy Mel Sembler to his office for an explanation of the shooting.

Sgrena, a reporter for Il Manifesto, was kidnapped outside a Baghdad mosque February 4.

Earlier Friday, attackers killed an Iraqi police chief, multinational forces officials said.

Col. Ghaib Hadab Zarib, the al-Budair police chief, was found dead near his home, about 45 kilometers (28 miles) east of Diwaniya, authorities said.

The gunmen shot him using an assault rifle and fled in a car, officials said.

One woman apparently was wounded in the attack.

On Thursday, gunmen tried to assassinate another police chief.

Col. Mou'ness Saeed, chief of al-Mouqdad police station in Kirkuk, was standing outside his car in southern Kirkuk with his guards late Thursday when gunmen opened fire from a vehicle driving by, Kirkuk police Chief Maj. Gen. Torhan Abdul Rahman said. The incident was the third assassination attempt on Saeed.

One of Saeed's guards was killed and a second critically wounded, but Saeed was unharmed.

Also Thursday, bombers struck two Iraqi security targets, killing five police officers near the Interior Ministry in Baghdad and another person in front of a police headquarters in Baquba, authorities said.

Insurgents ignited two explosive-laden vehicles near the Interior Ministry within minutes of each other, police said, after guards had stopped the vehicles. Another seven people were wounded.

In the Baquba incident, a suicide bomber detonated his car outside a headquarters for Iraqi emergency police, killing one person and wounding a dozen others, police and hospital sources said.

The attack appeared to target a convoy of Mudhafar Shahab Jiburi, chief of the police agency in Diyala province, police spokesman Sattar al-Karkhi said.

In response to recent insurgent attacks, interim Iraqi Prime Minister Ayad Allawi extended a state of emergency throughout the country for 30 days, his office said Thursday.

In a separate incident in Baghdad, an Iraqi army patrol fired on a vehicle as it approached a traffic control point. The vehicle and a vehicle behind it both exploded.

The incident is under investigation, said a spokesman for the U.S. Army 3rd Infantry Division, who offered no other details.>>

The man that was killed was one of the most respected officials of our secret services. I really doubt that he decided not to stop to a US checkpoint. without a good reason. I hope there will be a serious inquiry.

Romy