Sgrena, the 56-year-old correspondent of the communist daily Il Manifesto, told Italian investigators the US troops’ intense fire had been in no way justified by the speed of her car, ANSA news agency said.
“Our vehicle was running at normal speed which could not be misunderstood,” she said, rejecting US fears of a possible suicide attack.
“It wasn’t a checkpoint but a patrol which immediately opened fire after they trained their light on us,” Sgrena said.
The US military said Friday Sgrena’s convoy had ignored signals to stop, and that US soldiers had waved their hands and arms, flashed white lights and fired warning shots in a failed attempt to get the vehicle to stop.
But Sgrena told RaiNews24 television Saturday that a “hail of bullets” rained down on the car taking her to safety at Baghdad airport, along with three Italian intelligence officers, killing one of them.
“I was speaking to (officer) Nicola Calipari (…) when he leant on me, probably to protect me, and then collapsed and I realized he was dead,” said Sgrena, who was being questioned on Saturday by two Italian magistrates.
“They continued shooting and the driver couldn’t even explain that we were Italians. It was really horrible,” she added.
Il Manifesto chief editor Gabriele Polo branded the intelligence officer’s death a “murder”.
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“The Americans and Italians knew about (her) car coming,” Pier Scolari said on leaving Celio hospital.“They were 700 meters (yards) from the airport, which means that they had passed all checkpoints.”
Friday’s shooting was heard by Berlusconi’s aides who were on the phone with one of the intelligence officers, said 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.
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