Nicola Calipari, the international operations chief of Italian military intelligence, was shot dead at a US checkpoint as he accompanied the freed reporter to Baghdad airport.
In a vivid account, written for her newspaper, she described how Nicola Calipari, the international operations chief of Italy's military intelligence service, was shot in the head as he tried to shield her.
In Damascus, an intelligence officer was shot dead in Barzeh, a northern suburb, according to a statement from the British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
Calipari, a military intelligence officer, was shot dead by US troops who fired on his car as he escorted a freed hostage, Giuliana Sgrena, to safety.
Russia has frustrated Australian diplomats by continuously denying any involvement in the crash, despite findings by US and German intelligence that the plane was shot down by pro-Russian separatists.
If Ms. Sgrena had not been taken hostage, she and the Italian intelligence agent who was shot dead would be unharmed today.
Yesterday Whitehall sources told the Guardian that soldiers of the Special Reconnaisance Regiment, modelled on an undercover unit that operated in Northern Ireland, was engaged in "low-level intelligence behind the scenes" when the Brazilian was shot.
Intelligence officials said they doubted that the tape was shot that day, but its release by Abu Dhabi television reignited the debate over whether Mr. Hussein was dead or alive.
Intelligence has been obtained which strongly indicates that the plane was shot down by an SA-11 BUK missile launched from a separatist-held area in eastern Ukraine.
The gunman was shot dead.
