The Italian female journalist kidnapped in Baghdad a month ago has been released, Qatar-based al-Jazeera television reported on Friday. (Xinhua/AFP)

    WASHINGTON, March 4 (Xinhuanet) -- US President George W. Bush called Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi to express his regrets after shots fired by US soldiers killed an Italian secret service agent outside Baghdad, the White House said Friday.

    Calling Berlusconi from Air Force One, "the president assured prime minister Berlusconi that the incident will be fully investigated," the White House said in a statement.

    An Italian journalist, Giuliana Sgrena, was freed by her Iraqi kidnappers Friday only to be shot and wounded by US troops firing at the convoy carrying her to safety, Berlusconi earlier said in Rome.

    Her escort, Nicola Calipari, was killed. Enditem

Italian journalist freed, wounded by US fire

The Italian female journalist kidnapped in Baghdad a month ago has been released, Qatar-based al-Jazeera television reported on Friday. (Xinhua/Reuters/File)

  BAGHDAD, March 4 (Xinhuanet) -- The kidnapped Italian journalist Giuliana Sgrena was freed by her captors on Friday but wounded by US soldiers gunfire in Baghdad, reports said. 

   Sgrena was released in the Iraqi capital after being held hostage for a month, Qatar-based al-Jazeera television reported.

   But U.S. forces in Iraq mistakenly opened fire on the car carrying her to safety, wounding her in the shoulder and killing an Italian secret service agent.

   Sgrena, a reporter of Rome-based Communist daily Il Manifesto, is receiving treatment in a Baghdad hospital. 

   The 56-year-old woman was seized by unknown gunmen on a Baghdad street on Feb. 4. She appeared on TV two weeks later, pleading for her life and calling for withdrawal of Italian forces from Iraq. Enditem