Roma camp torched over rape allegation

TURIN, Italy, Dec. 12 (UPI) -- A Roma camp in Turin, Italy, was torched by teenagers after a girl claimed she was raped by two Roma men, police said.

The girl admitted Sunday to making up the story to cover for a consensual sexual encounter, the Italian news agency ANSA reported Monday.

''I saw the images of the gypsy camp in flames and I felt ill,'' the girl said in a letter of apology published in Italian newspapers. ''I'm dead ashamed. Only now do I realize what has happened. I made up that story ... . At the time, I didn't think about the consequences."

Police are trying to find the youths who set fire to the camp Saturday. Prosecutors and government officials condemned the raid, ANSA said.