Italy's foreign minister Saturday expressed disappointment and regret over the U.S. government's handling of the fatal shooting by an American soldier of an Italian intelligence agent in Iraq.

Spc. Mario Lozano, a member of the New York-based 69th Infantry Regiment, was indicted last month by a Rome court for fatally shooting Italian intelligence agent Nicola Calipari at a checkpoint near Baghdad airport, shortly after securing the release of an Italian journalist kidnapped in Baghdad.

Another agent, who was driving the car, and the journalist, Giuliana Sgrena, were wounded in the incident in 2005.

Massimo D'Alema said the American government failed to assume moral and political responsibility in the case, as the U.S. had remained silent to Italy's requests for more details about the soldier involved and documents concerning the investigation.

In comparison, he referred to the Cermis case in 1998 as a good example in which the U.S. government had assumed a responsibility that "went beyond insurance aspects."

In a tragic accident, a U.S. Marine jet sliced through a ski gondola's cable on a training mission near the Italian Alpine town of Cermis, killing 20 people. Although the pilot involved was acquitted of manslaughter by a U.S. military jury, he was later dismissed from the Marines for complicity in destroying a video tape of the flight.

The Pentagon has indicated that Lozano would not be extradited, as it considered the incident a "closed matter."

Source: Xinhua