Calipari, 51, was shot dead at a US roadblock in March 2005 while he was accompanying Italian journalist Giuliana Sgrena following her release by kidnappers.

Ansa said Rome prosecutor Giovanni Ferrara and three magistrates had signed the request for Lozano to be put on trial, which will be considered by a judge.

An initial hearing could be lined up within days, the report said, though Lozano himself is almost certain to be absent.

Ansa said the action was being taken under Italian legislation allowing for the prosecution of offences committed abroad and considered prejudicial to the political interests of the state.

Calipari's death, which enraged Italian public opinion, the US authorities and the then Italian administration of Silvio Berlusconi set up a joint investigation, but the two sides failed to agree in their conclusions.

The United States said its troops obeyed procedures, that the car in Calipari and Sgrena were travelling was going too fast, and that Rome had never told the US military of the operation to free the journalist of the left-wing daily Il Manifesto.

Rome for its part said inexperienced troops manning the roadblock had panicked when the car approached.

Washington failed to respond to a request from Italian prosecutors for the names of the soldiers involved, but Lozano was identified thanks to a blunder by the US military.

A report on the incident was released on the Internet but with the names and other details blacked out. However journalists discovered that copying it into another software program brought up the censored material.

________________________

Read from Looking Glass News

Italian Hostage Freed in Iraq Is Shot by G.I.'s at Checkpoint

Italian Leader Says U.S. Knew of Rescue Plan

US Attack Against Italians in Baghdad was Deliberate: Companion

Outrage as US soldiers kill hostage rescue hero

Calipari's widow says his slaying "cannot be allowed to become yet another of Italy's mysteries"

Bush administration clears US troops in slaying of Calipari and wounding of Sgrena

Giuliana Sgrena was shot in the Green Zone, by a tank as they drove away from it!