The United Kingdom (UK) has confirmed that Italy’s intelligence services were told that two hostages had been located, but were not specifically warned a raid to release them was imminent.
UK Defence Minister, Phillip Hammond, used a House of Commons statement yesterday to assuage the Italian pride. Franco Lamolinara and his British colleague, Christopher McManus, were killed by their captors last Thursday in Sokoto State in a botched rescue mission by British Special Forces and their Nigerian counterparts.
Hammond said, “The United Kingdom has had regular contacts with Italy through diplomatic channels and intelligence. We have not agreed on a right of veto by the Italian authorities on a possible intervention to free the hostages but I can assure you that they were well informed about the direction we were taking.
“There wasn’t time to have the kind of discussions at government to government level that perhaps we would have had, had there been another day or even 12 hours available to us”.
Hammond claimed the Italian authorities had been assuaged by British explanations, saying “the situation has been clarified to the satisfaction of both parties”. He said there had been “an accelerating closing of a time window”, and the judgment was made that force had to be used to release the hostages.
He said, “The assessment on the ground was there was a significant possibility the kidnappers, if present, were already aware their security had been compromised and, if they were not, the level of military activity in the town meant there was a real risk of them developing that awareness.
“The military judgement was the hostages were facing an imminent and escalating threat, and, while an immediate rescue attempt would inevitably involve risk, it represented the best chance of securing the release of Chris and Franco alive.”
Hammond said the operation lasted about 90 minutes and the two hostages were probably killed at the outset of the raid.
Also, the UK Foreign Secretary, William Hague, has also reassured the Italians that there was no intentional delay in informing them.
?