The Australian’s Natasha Bita fills in another piece of the puzzle, as Giuliana Sgrena reminisces about the halcyon days of her captivity.

But the veteran reporter said her kidnappers had treated her well and had assured her they did not plan to kill her.

“The kidnappers seemed to me to be a very religious group, praying continually from the Koran,” she wrote. “One of the guards came up to me, surprised that the television was showing posters of me in cities across Europe and that (Francesco) Totti, his favorite soccer player, had gone on to the field with ‘Free Giuliana’ written on his shirt.”

Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera reported yesterday that the Italian Government had paid a ransom of between E6-8million ($10-13.4million) to buy Sgrena’s freedom. It also claimed the car’s injured driver told Italian investigators the Americans “knew everything about our mission”.

Ten to $13.4 million. If true, that buys an awful lot of IEDs.