He called for a political and diplomatic explanation from the UK.
However, the Defence Secretary hit back saying that “It isn’t
inexplicable. It’s completely explicable what happened.”
He said that the Italian government was “informed” but didn’t
specifically “approve” the rescue mission adding that the
operatian was only launched following specific intelligence that the
hostages were to be moved and killed.
“We will be looking at the exercise to see what could be learnt,” he
added.
The UK’s ambassador in Rome is understood to be in contact with Italian
authorities, but Downing Street said it had so far received no official
complaint from the government of Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti.
David Cameron’s official spokesman said that Britain and Italy had been in
contact ever since the men were first kidnapped last May.
Mr McManus, 28, from Oldham, Greater Manchester, and
his Italian colleague were murdered by his captors as commandos from
the Special Boat Service (SBS) and the Nigerian army attempted the rescue.
As fall-out from the failed mission continued, the Italian press described the
fact that the government was kept out of the loop as “a slap in the face.”
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