Friday March 4, 2005 8:16 PM

ROME (AP) - Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi said Friday that he has asked the U.S. ambassador for an explanation about the shooting death of an Italian intelligence officer in Iraq, shortly after an Italian hostage was freed from her Iraqi captors.

``Given that the fire came from an American source I called in the American ambassador,'' Berlusconi told reporters. ``I believe we must have an explanation for such a serious incident, for which someone must take the responsibility.''

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