Italian Red Cross admits Iraq hostage deal

Italian Red Cross workers smuggled four wounded Iraqi insurgents through US roadblocks as part of a deal to free two aid workers kidnapped in Baghdad, it emerged yesterday.
Maurizio Scelli, outgoing head of the Italian Red Cross, said they hid "four alleged terrorists" under blankets and boxes of medicines in a jeep and an ambulance so they could be treated for injuries sustained in combat.
Three of the four had surgery.
Mr Scelli's revelation about the release of the aid workers Simona Pari and Simona Torretta sparked an embarrassing political row for the prime minister, Silvio Berlusconi, who has always denied bowing to ransom demands in Iraq.
The senior Red Cross official said the Italian government had no direct involvement in the plan but had been told about it.
The deal included an undertaking to treat ill Iraqi children and was kept secret from US officials, he said.
Mr Scelli also revealed yesterday that Nicola Calipari, the Italian intelligence agent shot dead in March by US troops at a Baghdad checkpoint during the release of another Italian hostage, the journalist Giuliana Sgrena, was involved in the deal.Mr Scelli said he had consulted Calipari, who had agreed that no one should know of the rescue.Mr Scelli told La Stampa: "Keeping the Americans in the dark about our efforts to free the hostages was a non-negotiable condition to guarantee the safety of the hostages and ourselves."

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