Iraq: Italian journalist Giuliana Sgrena, who was injured in a shooting incident in Baghdad on Friday evening in which an Italian secret service agent was killed, has claimed she might have been the victim of an assassination attempt by US military forces.
Talking to the Italian news network Skytg24, she said: "Everyone knows that the Americans don't want people negotiating the release of hostages and for that reason I don't see why I should rule out having been their target."
The car in which Ms Sgrena, agent Nicola Calipari and another Italian agent were travelling was fired on close to Baghdad airport on Friday evening shortly after her release following a month-long captivity in the hands of an Islamic militant group.
Mr Calipari died instantly from a single bullet wound to the head, doctors said.
US military authorities have described the incident as an "unfortunate mistake", claiming that the car was speeding close to a military checkpoint and saying that soldiers opened fire on the vehicle only after firing warning shots, using hand signals and flashing lights at it in an attempt to stop it.
In an article in yesterday's edition of her own newspaper, the left-wing Il Manifesto, Ms Sgrena rejects this version of events, saying that that there was no bright light and no signal.
When shots were fired at the car, "Nicola threw himself on me to protect me, and then suddenly I heard his last breath as he died on top of me," she wrote.
She recalled receiving a warning from her captors that the Americans did not want her to return. "The United States doesn't approve of this ransom policy and so they try to stop it in any way possible," she said.
Although Italy has denied paying kidnappers in previous hostage releases, agriculture minister Gianni Alemanno told the Milan daily Corriere Della Sera that very probably a large ransom had been paid in this instance.
Italian newspapers have speculated that anything up to €8 million may have been paid.
Earlier, Ms Sgrena's partner Piero Scolari had claimed that the Italian journalist and Calipari, the agent who was shot dead, had been the victims of an ambush.
Speaking to reporters shortly after Ms Sgrena's arrival in Rome on Saturday morning, Mr Scolari said: "Giuliana told me that at the moment she was being released her captors had warned her of the danger represented by US troops close to the airport. She also told me that there was no justification whatsoever for the US attack.
"The entire chain of command had been put on alert Italian soldiers were even waiting for them at the airport.
"The fact that highly dangerous weapons are put into the hands of terrified kids or that you can even speculate about an ambush is proof positive that it is time to put an end to this war," Mr Scolari added. "Giuliana had been told, even if she didn't pay any attention to it, that the Americans would not allow her to return home alive."
Shortly after the shooting incident on Friday evening, Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi summoned US ambassador to Italy, Mel Sembler, demanding a full investigation.
Later Mr Berlusconi spoke on the phone with US president George Bush, who expressed his regret about the incident, promising a full investigation.
For the time being, it would seem that the Italian government is satisfied with the US diplomatic response. Over the weekend, Italian foreign minister Gianfranco Fini told Corriere Della Sera that the shooting was a fatal accident.
Italian government sources, furthermore, are adamant that the rescue operation was carefully planned and that US military forces had been fully informed.
If there was a breakdown in communications, it came within the US chain of command, according to Italian government sources.
Meanwhile, Italian president Carlo Azeglio Ciampi joined the rising chorus of protest yesterday. "Like all Italians, we expect the United States to offer a full explanation for this tragic and painful incident."
The killing of agent Calipari, hailed as a hero and flown home on Saturday in a coffin draped with an Italian flag, seems certain to cause some political embarrassment for the Berlusconi government.
Notwithstanding the fact that Italian public opinion was overwhelmingly opposed to the US- led invasion of Iraq in 2003, Mr Berlusconi has been a staunch ally of President Bush, not only backing the US-led invasion but also subsequently sending a 3,000-strong military force to Iraq. His government has consistently rejected opposition calls for either an immediate withdrawal or a phased withdrawal of the Italian troops.
Former European Commission president Romano Prodi also called for a detailed explanation of the shooting. "All 57 million Italians who were united in the anticipation of Giuliana Sgrena's liberation have the right to know what happened," Mr Prodi said.
Some of his centre-left allies took a harder line. Oliviero Diliberto, head of the Party of Italian Communists (PDCI), commented: "I don't believe a single word of the American version of events and it is all the more urgent that we recall our troops and end this military occupation."