How an Italian Dies
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 left for Iraq in November to work as a security guard. The 36-year-old, who was specially trained to guard oil pipelines, was earning up to 10,000 euros ($12,500) a month and saving to buy a house with his fiancee, Italian media said.
But until his kidnapping, his mother thought the former baker was working in Kosovo.
His kidnappers, a previously unheard of group, threatened to kill the other three Italian hostages if Italy does not withdraw its troops from Iraq and its support from the United States.
Rome has rejected bowing to such pressure.
Update: Rtfm says: Huzzah!
Desidera L’Italia In tensione!
(I don’t know what it means, but have enough trust in RTFM to give a clenched fist salute and a prayer.)
