AMID an outpouring of patriotism, grief and anger, Italy gave an emotional state funeral yesterday to an intelligence officer shot dead by American troops in Iraq while escorting the freed hostage Giuliana Sgrena.

Politicians united to demand “clear answers” from the United States, which has opened an inquiry into the death of Nicola Calipari.

The White House voiced regrets, but rejected as “absurd” claims that US troops had deliberately set out to kill Signora Sgrena because America was opposed to negotiations with her kidnappers.

Signor Calipari, Italy’s chief secret service agent in Iraq, died after throwing himself on top of Signora Sgrena, a journalist for the left-wing newspaper Il Manifesto, when they came under fire from US forces close to Baghdad airport on Friday.

The funeral was held in Michelangelo’s church of Santa Maria degli Angeli. Earlier, 100,000 people had filed past the coffin at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. Mel Sembler, the US Ambassador, joined Silvio Berlusconi, the Prime Minister, and Romano Prodi, the opposition leader, at the Mass. Officials comforted Signor Calipari’s widow, Rosa, and her two teenage children.

Thousands listened to broadcast tributes. “He died a hero,” said Maurizio Agliana, one of three security guards kidnapped in Iraq last April and freed after secret negotiations by Signor Calipari.

The service brought into the spotlight senior anti-terrorist figures, including Gianni Letta, Signor Berlusconi’s chief of staff, and Niccolo Pollari, the head of the security service.

In his eulogy, Signor Pollari recalled the last phone call made to him by Signor Calipari as he approached Baghdad airport. He said that the agent was exuberant. “ ‘Victory,’ he said to me. ‘Giuliana is here in the car with us. I’ll call you in a minute when we reach safety.’ But he did not call again. The rest we all know.”

Signora Sgrena, who was held by kidnappers for a month, did not attend the funeral. She is in a Rome hospital recovering from a shrapnel wound to her shoulder. She has suggested that she was targeted deliberately because the United States opposes Italy’s policy of negotiating with kidnappers.

“For the Americans, war is war and human life does not count for much,” she said.

La Repubblica said that a ransom of more than $6 million (£3.1 million) had been paid to free Signora Sgrena.

Washington said that the shooting was an accident in which troops opened fire because they had not been told of the rescue mission and the Italians’ car failed to stop. The Italians say that the US knew about the rescue and that the US troops gave no warning.

The shooting has angered Signor Berlusconi, who has sent 3,000 troops to Iraq despite widespread antiwar sentiment in Italy.

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