Italy's interior minister resigns

Scajola's resignation had already been rejected once

ROME, Italy -- Italian Interior Minister Claudio Scajola has resigned after outraging parliament by calling a government aide murdered by guerrillas "a pain in the ass."

He resigned before Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi faced parliament on the issue later on Wednesday.

In a letter of resignation, Scajola called his decision to quit a "necessary act of duty" and said it was the best way to pay the price for having "once again opened the wound" of the family of the murdered aide.

Marco Biagi, a labour ministry adviser, was shot dead in March by Red Brigades leftist guerrillas. The Brigades, who terrorised Italy in the 1970s and 1980s, said they killed him for his work on laws that would make it easier to fire people.

Scajola, a member of Berlusconi's Forza Italia party, first offered his resignation on Sunday night but Berlusconi rejected it. The premier came under intense pressure for that decision.

The immediate political consequences on the government of Scajola's resignation were not clear.

At the weekend, Scajola was quoted by two leading newspapers as saying Biagi "was a pain in the ass who wanted his contract renewed" and questioning the importance of Biagi's work for government labour reforms.

Scajola apologised on Monday to Biagi's family for the comments, but said his words had been taken out of context.

Italy's centre-left opposition had called for Scajola's resignation over his handling of the inquiry into Biagi's assassination, following the publication on Friday of letters in which Biagi had desperately sought to have his police escort reinstated.

Scajola, the minister responsible for Italy's police, was unable to say why Biagi's bodyguard was lifted last July.

"We mustn't absolutely believe that the escort is the solution, because the terrorists will strike again anyway," Scajola said in an interview in La Stampa on Sunday.

The Red Brigades killers have never been caught.

In his letter of resignation, Scajola said that by resigning he wanted to again express his "heartfelt apology for having involuntarily contributed to the renewal of the Biagi family's pain."