Rome, March 8 (Reuters): Italy?s foreign minister rejected today a US account of how its forces killed an Italian intelligence agent in Iraq and urged Washington to punish any soldiers found guilty of wrongdoing in the shooting.

?It is our duty to demand truth and justice,? foreign minister Gianfranco Fini told parliament. Agent Nicola Calipari has been hailed as a hero in Italy after he died shielding a newly freed hostage from US gunfire as they drove to Baghdad airport last Friday.

The killing has strained ties between the US and Italy, which has been one of President George W. Bush's staunchest allies in Europe over the war in Iraq.

Fini dismissed speculation that US forces deliberately fired on the Italians, but he said a US military statement on the incident appeared to be at odds with what actually happened. ?It was certainly an accident, an accident caused by a series of circumstances and coincidences,? Fini said.

?But this doesn't mean, in fact it makes it necessary, to demand that events are clarified ... to identify those responsible, and if people are to blame then to request and ensure that the guilty parties are punished,? he added.

The US military has said its soldiers fired on the Italians? car after it approached a checkpoint at speed and failed to heed signals to slow down. But in a detailed reconstruction, Fini insisted that the Italians had been driving slowly and had received no warning.

Fini said that immediately after the shooting, US soldiers had apologised profusely to freed hostage Giuliana Sgrena and an unnamed Italian intelligence officer who survived the fire. ?The government has a duty to point out that the reconstruction of the tragic event that I have set out ... does not coincide totally with what has been said so far by the US authorities,? Fini said.

President Bush has promised an investigation. In previous ?friendly-fire? deaths, the Pentagon has not publicly admitted to any culpability on the part of US forces.

Italy deployed 3,000 troops to Iraq following the fall of Baghdad and has made clear that it will not withdraw its troops despite Calipari's death. But it fears any hint of a US whitewash over the incident will fuel anti-American sentiment.

Sgrena, an award-winning journalist who was held hostage for a month in Iraq before Calipari masterminded her release, has suggested the Italians were fired at because the US opposes Rome's practice of negotiating with kidnappers. The White House has rejected that suggestion.

Fini today gave a long account of Calipari's fatal mission to Baghdad but made no mention of any ransom. He said Rome had never considered a military swoop to free Sgrena for fear such an operation would endanger her life.

He said Calipari arrived in Baghdad on Friday afternoon after establishing contact with the kidnappers.