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ROME, Oct. 1 -- For three weeks, Italians across the country marched, held vigils and lit candles, and politicians united to promote freedom for a pair of humanitarian aid workers held captive in Iraq. Only days after the safe return of Simona Pari and Simona Torretta, the country and its politicians are divided. The celebration of the "Two Simonas," as the pair came to be known, has been clouded by a wave of recrimination over Italy's participation in the U.S.-led efforts to pacify Iraq. Detractors called the women ingrates and accused them of being soft on terrorists. Opposition politicians renewed...

Italians fall out of love with 'two Simonas' By Bruce Johnston in Rome (Filed: 02/10/2004) Italy's adoration of the "two Simonas", the women aid workers abducted in Iraq, began to sour yesterday, as the extent of their sympathy for the Iraqi fight against the allied occupation became clear. Simona Pari, Simona Torretta and Lello Rienzi talk to the press In their first big interviews given since their release in return for a reported $1 million ransom on Tuesday, Simona Pari and Simona Torretta, both 29, gave their backing to insurgents opposing the allied forces. Miss Pari, when asked why she...

Italy's adoration of the "two Simonas", the women aid workers abducted in Iraq, began to sour yesterday, as the extent of their sympathy for the Iraqi fight against the allied occupation became clear. In their first big interviews given since their release in return for a reported $1 million ransom on Tuesday, Simona Pari and Simona Torretta, both 29, gave their backing to insurgents opposing the allied forces. Miss Pari, when asked why she and her colleague had not asked on their return for the release of other hostages, said: "We didn't know there were any other hostages. No one...

Freed Italian Hostage Says Iraq Rebels 'Justified' ROME (Oct. 1) - An Italian aid worker held hostage last month in Iraq said guerrillas there were right to fight U.S.-led forces and their Iraqi "puppet government." In comments that were bound to annoy Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's government, Simona Torretta also called on Rome to withdraw the troops it sent to Iraq to support its U.S. ally. Former Captive Backs Guerillas "I said it before the kidnapping and I repeat it today," she told Corriere della Sera newspaper in an interview published Friday. "You have to distinguish between terrorism and resistance....

ROME (Reuters) - An Italian aid worker held hostage last month in Iraq said guerrillas there were right to fight U.S.-led forces and their Iraqi "puppet government." In comments that were bound to annoy Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's government, Simona Torretta also called on Rome to withdraw the troops it sent to Iraq to support its U.S. ally. "I said it before the kidnapping and I repeat it today," she told Corriere della Sera newspaper in an interview published Friday. "You have to distinguish between terrorism and resistance. The guerrilla war is justified, but I am against the kidnapping of...

KUWAIT - The Kuwaiti newspaper that predicted the release of two Italian hostages in Iraq says the captors had originally demanded a US$5 million ($7.56 million) ransom but settled for US$1 million in the end. "A cleric mediated to get the amount of the ransom lowered," said Ali el-Roz, managing editor of leading daily al-Rai al-Aam. "When they asked for the US$5 million, the cleric who is mediating told the captors that they can't set conditions but rather that they have to accept conditions imposed on them." Roz also said in an interview that the clerics mediating for the Italians'...

ROME – Euphoria still lingers in the air after the triumphant homecoming of two Italian aid workers held hostage in Iraq. But concern intensified Wednesday that by saving the "two Simonas," Italy may have inspired a whole new phase of kidnapping in Iraq, sending a message to criminal gangs that western hostages are worth millions of dollars. Amid reports that at least $1 million was paid for the release of Simona Pari and Simona Parretta after 21 days of agonizing negotiations with their captors, Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi said only that the government made "a very difficult choice." But Gustavo...

ROME, Sept 29 (AFP):One of two Italian women released after three weeks captivity in Iraq said she was ready to go back to the war-wracked country to continue her aid work, and told of being given sweets by her kidnappers as a farewell gift. "I would do it all over again with all the consequences that that carries even though I'm sorry for all the suffering my mother went through and didn't deserve," Simona Torretta told reporters late Tuesday after she and Simona Pari, both 29, were released by their Iraqi kidnappers and flown back to Rome. Both women worked...

Ransom payments seen fuelling Iraq's hostage crisis By Luke Baker BAGHDAD, Sept 29 (Reuters) - The release of two Italian aid workers in Iraq has raised hopes other hostages may soon be freed, but reports that a large ransom was paid may only feed the burgeoning hostage crisis. The two Italians, Simona Pari and Simona Torretta, had been seized along with two Iraqi colleagues from a central Baghdad office in a brazen attack witnesses described as very organised and probably carried out by a criminal gang. Gustavo Selva, an Italian lawmaker, told French radio a ransom of around $1 million...

Scelli denies the payment of redeems: "Speeches that offend to me" "Dealt well, have asked us forgiveness" The interrogation to the Power of attorney until the 3 of night. Then the return to house for the two Simone. The first particular of the seizure ROME - they have been the entire time or nearly bound and therefore they have not never seen in face their kidnappers than between the other they spoke in English. They have changed many prisons but they are remained to Bagdad . They have been always with during the 21 held days of the seizure...

ROME, Sept. 28 — Italy rejoiced tonight at the safe release of the young Italian aid workers known here as "the two Simonas," whose three weeks in captivity wrenched the nation and stamped real faces on the rising dangers of the war in Iraq. "I felt chills when I heard the news," Manuela Mancucci, 24, a street vendor in downtown Rome, said early in the evening as the news spread that Simona Pari and Simona Torretta had been released in Baghdad. "I'm so happy for them and their families." The kidnapping of the two women, in a raid on their...

Two Italian Aid Workers who have been held captive in Iraq freed. No story yet.

The director of To RAI: "Free within friday" The president of the Union of the Communities and Organizations Muslims in Italy is to Bagdad in order to contact the kidnappers ROME - the two Italian humanitarian operatrici Simona Equal Torretta and Simona will be rilasciate within "within friday, less than something it does not go badly in negotiates to you in course ". It has said a source to the correspondent to Bagdad of the daily paper of the Kuwait To RAI to the Aam, that the news will publish tuesday. It negotiates to you - it has said...

"Taken two abductors of the Italians" The tv To the Arabya: USA forces have captured two jailers after one shoot-out. The government: "Hush he is of obligation" BAGDAD - the flash of the agency Italian hour arrives to the 20,24. The news, brought back from the tv of the Dubai To the Arabya, it is all to confirm but it opens insperati scenes on the vicissitude of the two kidnapped Italians in Iraq the 7 past september. According to To the Arabya in fact they would have been taken two presumed abductor ones been involved in the rapimento of...

Has there been any further word regarding the status of the two Italian women? I have been wearing out the carpet praying for them since the post earlier today, but have not heard anything either on the net or out of Centcom. Coalition Forces Catch Italian Women's Captors ^The post linked above states that their captors had been captured by Coalition Forces, but does not say one way or the other about the young ladies. Please forgive me for the vanity, but if anyone hears anything, please let know about it. I try not to take this stuff so personally, but...

ITALY endured a day of anguish and confusion over the fate of two Italian women hostages after an Islamic website claimed early yesterday morning that they had been beheaded “without mercy”.Simona Torretta and Simona Pari, both aged 29 and members of the Italian aid agency Bridge to Baghdad, had been seized on September 7 from their Baghdad offices, with two Iraqi assistants. The women have not been heard of since, and the hostage-takers have released no video footage of them. Messages on the internet over the past two weeks have given warning that they would be killed unless the 3,000...

DUBAI: A second group yesterday claimed to have beheaded two women Italian aid workers held hostage in Iraq, in a statement on the Internet, following a similar unconfirmed claim from another group.The authenticity of the claims could not be verified."The heads of the two Italian criminals, Italian intelligence agents Simona Terretta and Simona Pari, were mercilessly cut off with a knife," said the latest statement attributed to a group calling itself Ansar Al Zawahiri.The group, whose name was taken from Ayman Al Zawahiri, the Egyptian number two in the Al Qaeda terror network, said a video would be released...

Concern was mounting last night over the fate of two Italian aid workers kidnapped in Baghdad a fortnight ago, after two separate statements appeared on the internet claiming that the women had been killed. Simona Pari and Simona Torretta, both 29, were seized with two of their Iraqi colleagues in daylight from their office in central Baghdad on September 7. They had been working in Iraq for several months for the aid agency Bridge to Baghdad. Statements from two separate groups appeared on different websites yesterday, each claiming the murders. Some statements, supposedly from militant groups in Iraq, have proven...

DUBAI (Reuters) - An Islamist group in Iraq (news - web sites) has said it killed two female Italian hostages in a statement posted on an Internet site not often used by Iraqi militants. The group, calling itself the Jihad Organization, said it had killed the women after Italy did not heed its call to withdraw its forces from Iraq. A group with a similar name, the Islamic Jihad Organization, said on September 12 that it would kill the hostages in 24 hours if Italian troops did not leave Iraq.

Iraq's Deputy Foreign Minister said that the kidnappers of the two Italian female aid workers may have sold the women to Abu Mus'ab Al Zarqawi and that they have been transferred from Baghdad to Fallujah.Al Zaman Newspaper of Iraq 9/20/04

FEARS GROW FOR HOSTAGES Concern is growing for the fate of two Italian female aid workers being held hostage after reports emerged they had been sold to the radical Islamist group led by Abu Musab al Zarqawi. Simona Pari and Simona Torretta, both 29, were kidnapped at gunpoint in Baghdad earlier this month. It is believed they had been taken by criminals who then sold them on to the Tawhid and Jihad Group and are now being held in the rebel Sunni-held city of Fallujah, Iraq's Deputy Foreign Minister Hamid al Bayati said. They are part of a group of...

ROME (AFP) - Italy's foreign minister said he was still hopeful that two Italian women held hostage in Iraq (news - web sites) would be released, as a purported ultimatum by the kidnappers was about to expire. "We do not feel alone, and it is a tremendous force, hope remains," Franco Frattini told news channel Sky TG 24. He said contacts had been made with "several persons more or less influential and important to achieve the release of Simona Torretta and Simona Pari." A statement on Friday in the name of the Ansar al-Zawahiri militant group gave Rome 24 hours...

DUBAI, Sept 12 (Reuters) - A purported statement by a previously unknown Iraqi group threatened on Sunday that two Italian hostages would be killed unless Italy begins withdrawing its forces from Iraq. "We will extend our deadline 24 hours from the issue of this statement after that if we don't see Italian soldiers withdrawing from Iraq we will implement execution," said the statement signed by the Islamic Jihad Organisation. The authenticity of the statement, dated Sept. 12, could not be verified. It appeared on the public bulletin board of a Web site often used by militant groups. Sometimes such claims...

Jun. 27, 2004 21:23 Report: Iraqis killed Italian for Israel ties By ASSOCIATED PRESS LONDON An Iraqi terrorist who says he participated in the April murder of an Italian hostage has recalled how the captive asked for his blindfold to be removed so he could look his killers in the eye, a British newspaper reported Sunday. "I filmed him as he was executed," the Arab fighter, who called himself Abu Yussuf was quoted as telling Sunday Times reporter Hala Jaber in an undisclosed location to the west of Baghdad. Fabrizio Quattrocchi, along with three other Italian security guards, was captured...

In a clandestine and dangerous meeting near Baghdad Hala Jaber was told the chilling story of a hostage’s death by one of the terror gang IN A small, bare house to the west of Baghdad, a highly educated Arab fighter armed with an unusual combination of computer skills and European languages was packing spoils of war into cardboard boxes last week as his resistance cell prepared to take its battle into the Iraqi capital. He removed aerial photographs from the walls, saying he had obtained them by hacking into a US military database in Iraq, and stacked laptops that had...

An elite U.S. Special Forces team rescued three Italians and one Polish hostage from pro-Saddam kidnappers yesterday in a daring commando raid south of Baghdad. In a dramatic development seen as a huge boost to coalition forces, military officials said a special hostage-rescue team from the legendary Delta Force carried out the carefully choreographed mission without firing a shot. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez, commander of U.S. forces in Iraq, said suspects "involved in the kidnapping" also were arrested at the undisclosed hideout. The three Italian hostages, Umberto Cupertino, Maurizio Agliana and Salvatore Stefio, were security guards employed by an American firm...

WASHINGTON, June 8, 2004 -- Coalition forces rescued four civilian hostages today south of Baghdad, military officials reported. Three Italians and one Pole were rescued, Army Lt. Gen. Ricardo S. Sanchez, Multinational Force Iraq commander, said during a Baghdad news briefing. They were Salvatore Stefio, Umberto Cupertino and Maurizio Agliana of Italy, and Jerzy Kos of Poland. The kidnappers executed another Italian hostage, Fabrizio Quattrocchi, soon after the April 12 kidnapping. His execution was videotaped and played back on Arab television. The general said the hostages were in coalition forces control and are in good health. All the hostages were...

The four Italian security guards kidnapped in Iraq had their personal protection weapons confiscated by American soldiers just hours before they were seized by suspected rebels, colleagues have revealed. According to Paolo Simeoni, the former leader of their security team, soldiers manning a checkpoint in one of Baghdad's most dangerous districts confiscated their three high-powered assault rifles and two pistols. Breaking his silence about the incident, Mr Simeoni said the Americans claimed that the Italians had flouted gun permit rules. The soldiers issued a receipt so that the arms could be collected at a later date. The men, who had...

Hostages in Iraq Who Remain Missing The Associated Press May 2, 2004 The abduction of Thomas Hamill came at the height of the wave of kidnappings of foreigners sparked by the intense violence that began a month ago. Up to 40 people from several nations were abducted, though most were later freed. Among those still missing: - An American soldier, Pfc. Keith M. Maupin, who was kidnapped in the same convoy attack as Hamill, a truck driver for a Halliburton Corp. subsidiary. Maupin was seen in separate video footage. Hamill was among seven American contractors kidnapped in the April 9...

DUBAI, May 1 (Reuters) - An Iraqi Islamist group has said it will not harm three Italian hostages it is holding, after murdering a fourth last month, a statement sent to Arabic television station Al Jazeera said on Saturday. "They are telling the Italian people that they appreciate how the Italian people went onto the streets and now they are not going to harm the hostages," a spokesman for the Qatar-based channel told Reuters. Relatives and friends of the three Italians gathered on Thursday for a peace march in Rome which they hoped would convince the kidnappers to free them....

Italians reject hostages plea (Filed: 28/04/2004) Italy's political leaders refused yesterday to bow to Iraqi kidnappers' threats to kill three Italian hostages unless there are mass protests against their country's military involvement in the country. But the men's relatives urged people to turn out at rallies next week. The men, captured outside Baghdad, were working for a private American security firm. A fourth Italian captive was killed after the kidnappers demanded the withdrawal of Italian troops from Iraq.

Politics: 26 April 2004, Monday. Apparent kidnappers have vowed to kill three Italian hostages in Arab TV footage. A videotape aired by news broadcaster Al Arabiya showed the militants, calling itself the Green Brigades, who claimed the hostages' release in five days if the Italian people protest against their military presence in Iraq. Thousands of Italians took to the streets across the country on Sunday, celebrating the Liberation Day and urging the government to withdraw Italian forces from Iraq. The country has deployed nearly 3,000 soldiers in the Arab country. Two weeks ago an Italian civilian was the first foreign...

Italy told hostages will die in five days Kidnappers demand sympathy demonstrations on the streets of Rome in return for lives of three captive security guards Luke Harding in Baghdad Tuesday April 27, 2004 The Guardian An Iraqi armed group released video footage yesterday of three Italian hostages seized more than two weeks ago and said they would be killed in five days' time unless Italians protested publicly against their county's involvement in the occupation. Al-Arabiya TV, which broadcast the footage, quoted an accompanying statement as saying: "We will show good faith and free them and ask that they leave...

<p>April 21, 2004 -- Fabrizio Quattrocchi was certainly a most courageous and honorable man ("Fabrizio Quattrocchi, Hero," Editorial, April 16).</p> <p>Contractors like Quattrocchi and the Coalition forces are the front line in this war to preserve civilization against the barbarians.</p>

ROME (AFP) - Italy could exchange Islamic extremists held prisoner within the country for its three nationals who were kidnapped in Iraq (news - web sites), a relative of one of the hostages told Ansa Italian news agency. "They assured me they (the hostages) were alive. This exchange is being negotiated", Angelo Stefio, the father of 34-year-old Salvatore Stefio, said. Salvatore Stefio is among three Italian security guards being held in Iraq by a previously unknown group calling themselves the "Green Brigade". A fourth Italian, Fabrizio Quattrocchi, was executed on Wednesday by the abductors, who have demanded the withdrawal of...

Translation of article in la Republica, url is http://www.repubblica.it/2004/d/sezioni/politica/iraqita2/francese/francese.html The French journalist kidnapped, then released after four days, talks about his days in captivity. “Merciless regarding your co-nationals” Rome – The Italian hostages are “Friends of the devil” and for this “we will gut them.” This was what the kidnappers of the French journalist Alexander Jordanov, kidnapped, then released on the very day that the kidnappers executed Fabrizio Quattrocchi told him during his captivity. Interviewed on the TV station Tg1, Jordanov reconstructs the days of his kidnapping. Still shaken, both physically and psychologically, he does not wish to recount the...

He died, said Franco Frattini, Italy's Foreign Minister, like a hero. With his captors pointing their guns at him, Fabrizio Quattrocchi groped for the hood strapped around his head and tried to rip it off. "I'll show you how an Italian dies," he screamed at them. Then they shot him. He was the first hostage to die since the spate of abductions began last week: executed in cold blood, a bullet to the nape of the neck, in retribution, the "Green Brigades of the Prophet" declared in a statement, because "your Prime Minister says that the withdrawal of the Italian...

<p>April 16, 2004 -- The Italian troops risking their lives in Iraq as part of the U.S.-led Coalition have fought with great skill and courage, and are a credit to the Italian nation, but even their valor pales before the bravery of Fabrizio Quattrocchi. He was the Italian hostage (one of four kidnapped by Iraqi Arab bandits) who was brutally murdered on Wednesday.</p>

Amid all the talk about European 'appeasement', it's worth reading this extract from a Reuters story: "ROME, April 15 (Reuters) -...Fabrizio Quattrocchi, one of four Italian security guards abducted [in Iraq] earlier this week, was shot dead on Wednesday after Italy refused to bow to the kidnappers' demands that it withdraw its troops from Iraq. Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini said a video recording of the killing showed that Quattrocchi was hooded when his kidnappers put a gun to his head. "When the murderers were pointing a pistol at him, this man tried to take off his hood and shouted:...

ROME, April 15 (Reuters) - An Italian hostage killed in Iraq was hailed on Thursday as a hero who in his last moments told his kidnappers defiantly: "I'm going to show you how an Italian dies." Fabrizio Quattrocchi, one of four Italian security guards abducted earlier this week, was shot dead on Wednesday after Italy refused to bow to the kidnappers' demands and withdraw some 3,000 troops stationed in Iraq. Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini said a video recording of the killing showed that Quattrocchi was hooded when his kidnappers put a gun to his head. "When the murderers were...

The dead man was identified as Fabrizio Quattrocchi, 36, a security guard. As the gunman's pistol was pointing at him the hostage "tried to take off his hood and shouted: 'now I'll show you how an Italian dies,'" he said. Meanwhile, three Japanese hostages held in Iraq have been released, the government in Tokyo has confirmed. The Arabic TV station Al-Jazeera has broadcast images of the three, who it said had been handed over safe and well to Muslim clerics. Japan is investigating reports that two more of its citizens - freelance journalists - have been abducted. Tape withheld Al-Jazeera...

ROME, April 15 (Reuters) - An Italian hostage shot dead in Iraq tried to look his killers in the eye and died like a hero, Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini said on Thursday. Frattini told reporters that Fabrizio Quattrocchi, one of four Italian security guards abducted outside Baghdad, was hooded when his kidnappers put a gun to his head. "When the murderers were pointing a pistol at him, this man tried to take off his hood and shouted: 'Now I'm going to show you how an Italian dies'. And they killed him," Frattini said. "He died a hero." Quattrocchi's kidnappers...

ROME, April 15 (Reuters) - The killing of a hostage in Iraq provoked horror and outrage in Italy on Thursday as politicians closed ranks around the government's commitment to keep troops in Iraq. Italy confirmed the killing of Fabrizio Quattrocchi late on Wednesday, by kidnappers who, Al Jazeera Arabic TV said, threatened to kill three other Italian hostages who worked with him for a U.S. private security firm unless Italy withdrew its troops from the U.S.-led coalition in Iraq. But Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi vowed not to give in and to keep Italian forces in Iraq. "They have destroyed a...

Fallujah Truce Shaken; Hostage Is Killed Thu Apr 15,12:18 AM ET By JASON KEYSER and LOURDES NAVARRO, Associated Press WritersFALLUJAH, Iraq - U.S. warplanes strafed gunmen in Fallujah on Wednesday, and more than 100 guerrillas with rocket-propelled grenades pounded a lone Marine armored vehicle lost in the streets — a sign of heavy battles ahead if Marines resume a full assault on this besieged city. With a truce crumbling and President Bush (news - web sites) calling for a key U.N. role to keep the country's political transition moving amid the violence, a top U.N. envoy proposed an Iraqi caretaker...

FOX News Alert: Iraqi kidnappers kill 1 of 4 Italian hostages

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi vowed on Thursday to keep troops in Iraq (news - web sites) despite the killing of an Italian hostage in scenes Al Jazeera said were too bloody to screen. "They have destroyed a life. They have not cracked our values and our efforts for peace," Berlusconi said in a statement after the killing of security guard Fabrizio Quattrocchi. The killing by a previously unheard of Iraqi group followed a spate of kidnappings that has snared foreign civilians from at least a dozen countries this month, Iraq's bloodiest period since Saddam Hussein (news...

The Arabic television network Al Jazeera reports the kidnappers of four Italians in Iraq have killed one hostage and are threatening to kill the rest. The satellite station did not say how it obtained the tape, and did not broadcast it. But it said the tape showed the death of one of the hostages. Italy's Foreign Minister, Franco Frattini, confirmed the report and said an Italian official had viewed the video. Earlier in the day Frattini said Italian troops would remain in Iraq, despite the kidnappers' demands that they withdraw. The four Italian security guards were working for a U.S....

DUBAI (Reuters) - Arabic television Al Jazeera said on Wednesday the kidnappers of four Italians in Iraq had killed one hostage and were threatening to kill the rest. The Qatar-based channel gave no more details.

ROME, April 14 (Reuters) - Italy will not give in to blackmail in order to save four Italian hostages held by an Islamist group in Iraq, Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini said on Wednesday. Speaking to a parliamentary committee, Frattini said Italy would use "every means for the release of the hostages" but refused to give in to blackmail.

(Adds Italian comment, details, including name of one hostage) By Andrew Hammond DUBAI, April 13 (Reuters) - Al Jazeera Arab television aired a tape on Tuesday of four men described as Italians being held by a hitherto unheard of Iraqi Islamist group which demanded that Italy withdraw its forces from Iraq. The four men in civilian clothes were shown seated on a floor and holding up their passports, surrounded by gunmen whose faces were covered by traditional Arab headscarves. The name on one passport could be seen as Fabrizio Quattrocchi. "The Italian government...should vow and give guarantees to withdraw its...