csua.org/u/b9i -> story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=564&ncid=564&e=2&u=/nm/20050304/ts_nm/iraq_dc_512
Top Stories - Reuter s By Andrew Marshall BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Italian journalist Giuliana Sgrena was freed by her c aptors on Friday but US forces mistakenly opened fire on the convoy ta king her to safety, wounding her and killing an Italian secret service a gent.
He told a news conference the agent was shot dead at a US checkpoint an d that Sgrena had been wounded in the shoulder. "This news which should have be a moment of celebration, has been ruined by this firefight," said Gabriele Polo, editor of the Communist Rome-bas ed Il Manifesto newspaper. "An Italian agent has been killed by an American bullet.
web sites) is completely senseless and mad," he told Sky I talia television, struggling to fight back tears. In new video aired on Al Jazeera on Friday, Sgrena was shown wearing a bl ack dress and sitting in front of a table with a plate of fruit. Jazeera said that on the tape, Sgrena thanked her captors for treating her well . Sgrena was one of two female Western journalists abducted in Baghdad this year. Florence Aubenas of France's Liberation was seized along with her Iraqi driver on Jan. More than 150 foreigners, including several Western journalists, have bee n seized by insurgents over the past year. Most have been freed but many have been killed -- sometimes in beheadings that were filmed and posted on the Internet. The kidnappings have highlighted the lawlessness gripping large areas of Iraq where insurgents mount frequent attacks, crime is rife and Iraqi fo rces have little control. Last year, Italian journalist Enzo Baldoni was seized south of Baghdad an d later killed by his captors. Four private security gua rds were kidnapped in April and one was later killed, and in September t wo female Italian aid workers were snatched in Baghdad before being rele ased three weeks later. The hostage crises have fueled criticism in Italy of the government's bac king for the war in Iraq. CAR BOMB, ASSASSINATION Insurgents trying to overthrow Iraq's US-backed government mounted fres h attacks on Friday. In Baquba, northeast of Baghdad, a car bomb killed one civilian, police said. In the mainly Shi'ite southern Iraq town of Budair, the local police chie f was assassinated. The Polish military, which is in charge of security in the area, said Colonel Ghaib Hadab Zarib was shot dead by gunmen arme d with AK-47s. In the restive northern city of Mosul, a car bomb exploded near a US mi litary convoy. Al Qaeda's wing in Iraq issued an Internet statement clai ming responsibility for the blast and saying it was a suicide bombing. T he US military said it had no immediate information on any casualties. In another Internet statement on Friday, the al Qaeda group in Iraq led b y Jordanian militant Abu Musab al-Zarqawi said a string of suicide attac ks in recent days disproved assertions by the Iraqi government that the network was crumbling.
The group also said it carried out two suicide bombings in Baghdad on Thu rsday in a bid to assassinate the interior minister. Iraq's government says it has captured several key al Qaeda leaders and t he net is closing on Zarqawi. "Iraq's plains and desert s have turned into volcanoes erupting beneath the infidels and all aroun d them," it said. "We call on all Muslims who cherish their faith to str ike with the sword."
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