According to a French book built from French archives, on the night of 16 August 1943, 3 enemy AC were reported at 23h44 25 km NNE of cap de Fer, west of Bône, and two were shot down shortly later. The same source told of an Allied convoy attacked off Bône: Empire Ketrel sunk, Benjamin Contee damaged. The same book says that Italian sources reported two losses by 132° Gruppo AS, but I will rather believe you....
On the night of the 17th, an estimated 60 Ju 88s raided Bizerte so I don't know if the loss of the LCI can be attributed to Italian torpedo bombers.
In both case it is unclear if the book is considering respectivelythe night of 15-16 and 16-17, or the night of 16-17 and 17-18.
By the way, according to this site (
http://www.galik.com/stanleygalik1922/lci/lci06.htm), the LCI-1 was lost in the evening of the 17th, and also to bombs.
I remember reading an article about the story of the LCI-1 a long time ago and I also had the rememberance it was bombed, not torpedoed.
Benjamin Contee was not a good target for Italian airmen, according to the USN official chronology:
"16 August 1943
U.S. freighter
Benjamin Contee is hit by aerial torpedo 16 miles north of Bone, Algeria; while the explosion kills 264 and injures 142 of the 1,800 Italian POWs on board there are no casualties to the 43-man merchant complement, 27-man Armed Guard, 26 British guards and 7 Army security people. Italian-speaking crewmen reassure the anxious prisoners that the ship is in no danger of sinking;
Benjamin Contee ultimately returns to service."
The British LST-414 is listed as being sunk on 15/8/43 N of Tunis by "German aircraft", that can be translated by "Axis aircraft".