Italian hostage 'defied killers'
Quattrocchi, an ex-baker, was
trained to guard oil pipelines
The Italian hostage killed by kidnappers in Iraq was a defiant "hero" in his final moments, Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini says.
The dead man was identified as Fabrizio Quattrocchi, 36, a security guard.
As the gunman's pistol was pointing at him the hostage "tried to take off his hood and shouted: 'now I'll show you how an Italian dies,'" he said.
May he find eternal shelter within the mercy and grace of God, and may his family be comforted in the knowledge that he is no longer a captive of the muslim 'religion of peace'.