Italian President Giorgio Napolitano on Friday condemned as "inexplicable" Britain's failure to consult with Italy before attempting to rescue a pair of Italian and British hostages in Nigeria.
"The behaviour of the British government, which did not inform or consult with Italy on the operation that it was planning, really is inexplicable," Napolitano said, a day after the assault in which both men were killed.
His comments reflected growing anger in Italy over the botched rescue, as witnesses on the ground in the city of Sokoto in northwestern Nigeria described an operation involving 100 troops, military trucks and a helicopter.
The witnesses also said the intense gun battle lasted for several hours and that at least two hostage-takers were killed in the operation.
"The tragic episode in Nigeria is unbelievable. The Italians are clearly humiliated," read an editorial in Italy's top Corriere della Sera daily.
"It is an unacceptable slap in the face and saying sorry is not enough."
Prime Minister Mario Monti meanwhile held a security meeting to discuss the failed operation by British and Nigerian special forces to save Franco Lamolinara and Chris McManus, who were kidnapped last year.
Italy said it was only informed once the operation was underway.
The Repubblica daily described a "dramatic phone call" between Monti and his British counterpart David Cameron as Monti was flying back from a visit to Belgrade in which he was told about the operation.
"This is a blow for Italy's new-found international credibility," it said.
The Sole 24 Ore newspaper cited sources close to the prime minister's office as saying there was "a real chill in relations between Rome and London."
The Italian government said on Thursday that it had been working in collaboration with Britain and Nigeria from the moment the men were kidnapped, but that the bid to rescue them had been unexpectedly speeded up.
"Fearing that the hostages' lives were in imminent danger, the Nigerian authorities launched the operation with British support, informing the Italian authorities once it was already in process," the government said.
Italy said the operation "tragically ended with the murder of the hostages by the kidnappers, according to the British version of what happened."
Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan blamed the deaths on Islamist extremist group Boko Haram, which has waged a campaign of violence in northern Nigeria for years, and said the killers had been arrested.
While officials gave few details about the operation or those involved, newspapers in London said that it had included members of the British elite forces Special Boat Service (SBS) who had been in Nigeria for a fortnight.
As Italian national pride smarted, Raffaello Matarazzo, research fellow at the Institute of International Affairs in Rome, said Italy's exclusion from the decision-making was "a serious diplomatic incident".
The diplomatic slight "comes at a moment when Italy is improving its image on the international stage and the government is clawing back trust among its European partners," he said.
Cameron said the two hostages had been held by "terrorists" who had made "very clear threats to take their lives", and the captives had been in "imminent and growing danger".
AFP received a video showing McManus and Lamolinara in August. In the footage, both men said their kidnappers were from Al-Qaeda.
In a second video received by a Mauritanian news agency and seen by AFP in December, gunmen threatened to execute McManus if their demands were not met.
Diplomats have said some Boko Haram members have sought training abroad, but there had not been evidence of operational links with foreign groups.
Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb has in recent years claimed kidnappings of foreign workers in countries including Niger, which borders Nigeria to the north, but never in Nigeria. Sokoto state borders Niger.
The two hostages were kidnapped by heavily armed men who stormed their apartment in Kebbi state in May 2011. They had been helping build a central bank building in the city and worked for construction firm Stabilini Visinoni.
While scores of foreigners have been kidnapped for ransom in Nigeria's oil-producing Niger Delta region, abductions in the mainly Muslim north have been relatively rare.
A German citizen was kidnapped in January on the outskirts of the northern city of Kano. That came in the wake of January 20 coordinated bombings and shootings in Kano claimed by Boko Haram which left 185 people dead.
Boko Haram has been blamed for increasingly deadly and sophisticated attacks in Nigeria, Africa's most populous nation and largest oil producer.
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/british-italian-hostages-killed-failed-nigeria-rescue-174904223.html
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