ROME - Italy and the United States said Friday the investigation into the killing of an Italian agent by U.S. forces in Iraq had ended but they failed to fully agree on the circumstances surrounding the shooting.

The two governments issued a joint statement into the March 4 death of intelligence agent Nicola Calipari, who was killed after he had secured the release of an Italian hostage. U.S. soldiers fired on their vehicle as it approached a U.S. checkpoint near Baghdad's airport.

It said the investigation into the shooting had been concluded and the two countries will now refer the case to their respective national authorities. Italy has launched its own criminal inquiry into the death. "The investigators were unable to reach shared final conclusions..."

Italy and the United States had worked for a month on the joint investigation in the killing, which sparked outrage in Italy and put increasing pressure on Premier Silvio Berlusconi to withdraw Italy's estimated 3,000-strong contingent from Iraq.

But from the start, testimony from the two survivors of the shooting clashed with the U.S. military's account.

The Russian President, Vladimir Putin, made clear his determination to go ahead with the sale of anti-aircraft missiles to Syria despite strong pressure from Israeli leaders to revoke it. Neither Russia nor Israel made any effort to disguise the open disagreement on this and other issues ­ including Iran ­ in talks which both Mr Putin and the Israeli Prime Minister, Ariel Sharon, nevertheless went out of their way to depict as cementing significantly improved relations between the two countries. Mr Putin said that, to come within range of the anti-aircraft missiles, Israel would "have to attack Syria. Do you want to do that?" He said the missiles could not be shoulder-fired and would not work if uncoupled from the Jeeps on which they were mounted. This is unlikely to allay fears in the Israeli security community.

TONY Blair was under pressure today over the legality of the Iraq war as the issue threatened to derail Labour's election campaign.The Prime Minister struggled to keep the focus on Labour's domestic election agenda, but leaked details of the legal advice he received from the Attorney General Lord Goldsmith in the run-up to the invasion of Iraq dominated the campaign.Tory leader Michael Howard led the assault on the Prime Minister and he targeted Tony Blair personally saying: "When Mr Blair said `I have never lied', he was not telling the truth."

Tony Blair faces further "explosive" leaks today from the Attorney General's secret legal advice on invading Iraq.