06 March 2005	Sunday	24 Muharram 1426

ROME, March 5: The companion of freed Italian journalist Giuliana Sgrena on Saturday levelled serious accusations at US troops who fired at her convoy, saying the shooting had been deliberate.

"The Americans and Italians knew about (her) car coming," Pier Scolari said on leaving Rome's Celio military hospital, where Ms Sgrena is to undergo surgery following her return home. "They were 700 metres from the airport, which means that they had passed all checkpoints."

The shooting was witnessed by Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's office which was on the phone with one of the secret service agents, said Mr Scolari. "Then the US military silenced the cellphones," he charged.

"Giuliana had information, and the US military did not want her to survive," he added.

When Ms Sgrena was kidnapped on Feb 4 she was writing an article on refugees from Fallujah seeking shelter at a Baghdad mosque after US forces bombed the former guerilla stronghold.

Ms Sgrena told RaiNews24 television Saturday a "hail of bullets" rained down on the car taking her to safety.

"I was speaking to (agent) Nicola Calipari (...) when he leant on me, probably to protect me, and then collapsed and I realized he was dead," said Ms Sgrena, who was being questioned by two Italian magistrates. "They continued shooting and the driver couldn't even explain that we were Italians. It was really horrible," she added.

The chief editor of Ms Sgrena's left-wing newspaper, Il Manifesto, Gabriele Polo, branded Mr Calipari's death a 'murder'. "He was hit in the head," he said.

Mr Calipari will be given a state funeral on Monday. -AFP