Four Italian soldiers were injured, one of them seriously, in an incident during a NATO exercise in Latvia, DPA reported.
According to the Defense Ministry in Rome, their vehicle was fired upon by a machine gun mounted on an Italian “Dardo“ armored personnel carrier at a base near the small town of Adagi. The exact circumstances surrounding the incident are still unclear.
The wounded soldiers were taken to the capital Riga for treatment, the ministry said. None of the four are in a life-threatening condition, the ministry added.
The military has launched an investigation to clarify the exact sequence of events.
Italy has deployed more than 300 soldiers to Latvia as part of an international brigade. Soldiers from more than a dozen countries are stationed at a Latvian military base.
The multinational NATO brigade is tasked with defending the military alliance's northeastern flank, particularly against possible attacks by Russia on the Baltic states.