Prime Minister Mario Monti's government was under fire on Saturday over handling of recent diplomatic operations linked to the death of an Italian hostage in Nigeria and jailing of two Italian marines in India.

Roberto Maroni, an MP from Northern League party and former interior minister, called for foreign minister Giulio Terzi to resign after details emerged on a joint British-Nigerian raid of which Monti was informed with a telephone call by his British counterpart David Cameron only after it had already ended with the death of an Italian and a British hostages in Nigeria on Thursday.

"It seems incredible that the Italian government had not been informed about the British blitz in Nigeria. Such kind of things had never happened before. Is this Italy's authority abroad?"Maroni said in a statement.

An MP from center-right People of Freedom party, Maurizio Gasparri, maintained that Italy is taking "resounding slaps" from both Britain and India.

"Having a government means if something happens we need a physical presence that a government with no political experience, unfortunately, cannot guarantee," he told Tgcom24 television channel referring to Monti's cabinet of technocrats.

"We expect strong stances .. Italy is doing everything too slowly, and seems to almost surrender to certain state of affairs,"he added.

According to Daniela Santanche, another MP from the same party, Italy's diplomatic operations are "a mess" which needs to be clarified by Monti, while Nichi Vendola, an MP from center-left Left Ecology Freedom party, noted there is a "worrying link" between the two diplomatic crises that Italy recently ran up against.

Experts quoted by local media also drew comparisons between the Nigeria operation and another diplomatic row with India over two Italian marines jailed - despite being in international waters - on suspicion of shooting dead two Indian fishermen, and said such "serious diplomatic incidents" are embarrassing Rome.

The two marines were protecting an Italian merchant vessel sailing off the Indian coast, and are being detained since Feb. 15 when they opened fire believing they were under attack from pirates.

The Italian victim, 47-year-old engineer Franco Lamolinara, was killed along with his British colleague Christopher McManus on Thursday during a joint British-Nigerian raid aimed at freeing the two hostages who were in the hands of kidnappers in Nigeria since last May.

ANSA news agency said on Saturday that another attempted abduction of an Italian, Renzo Galvagni, was foiled by a police patrol team in the Nigerian city of Asaba.

Nine other Italians are still in the hands of abductors worldwide, including Rossella Urru, an aid worker kidnapped five months ago in Algeria, whose case was reported to be "near to a solution" in the past days.