At least 14 Italians die in Iraq attack (Italian police HQ in Nasiriyah)

MSNBC.com ^ | 11/12/03 | NBC News and News Services

[wimpycat]

Nov. 12 — A truck bomb rocked the headquarters of the Italian Carabinieri police in the southern Iraqi city of Nasiriyah on Wednesday, killing at least 14 Italians and possibly trapping others under the debris, Carabinieri officials said in Rome. The Arabic language television station Al-Jazeera said eight Iraqis were also killed.

IT WAS THE first such attack in this relatively quiet Shiite Muslim city since the beginning of the U.S.-led occupation and appeared aimed at sending a message to international organizations that they are not safe anywhere in Iraq. Italian President Carlo Azeglio Ciampi called the bombing a “terrorist act” and said it wouldn’t deter his nation’s resolve to fight terror. A Carabinieri (military police) official said that 14 Italians were dead: 11 Carabinieri paramilitary police and three Army soldiers. Coalition official Andrea Angeli said the blast occurred after a truck rammed the gate of the Italian compound and exploded in front of the Carabinieri building. He said the force of the explosion was so strong that it blew out windows in another building across the Euphrates River. Carabinieri Maj. Roberto Riccardi said the building burst into flames, and that some Italians may be under the debris, although details were difficult to come by because communication had been severed. “We cannot exclude the possibility that there are soldiers under the rubble,” he said by telephone. In a separate attack, an American soldier was killed when a roadside bomb exploded near a U.S. patrol by the town of Taji northwest of Baghdad, Maj Josslyn Aberle, spokeswoman of the 4th Infantry Division, said on Wednesday.

The latest death brings to 152 the number of soldiers killed by hostile fire since President Bush declared an end to active combat May 1.

[wimpycat]

Apologies in advance if this is a duplicate. I did a cursory check and didn't see anything else on this topic.

[AntiGuv]

[wimpycat]

Prayers for our Italian allies who were killed today, and other innocent victims, and their families.

[SeeRushToldU_So]

We have to start killing more of these mo fo's. I don't have a clue as to how to ferret them out. But we do need to kill more of them.

I would hate attrition of murder bombers to be successful missions.

[wimpycat]

I hope this terrorist attack doesn't accomplish what it was intended to accomplish, which is to spook the Italians into pulling out of Iraq.

[tioga]

May they RIP. Sad day.

I hope the Italians find that steely resolve our President has and don't turn tail and run. Worse mistake they could ever make. I read Oriana Fallaci's book "The Rage and The Pride after 9/11. She wouldn't blink at them.

[wimpycat]

.

[tazman3]

since President Bush declared an end to active combat May 1

I'm REALLY getting tired of this line.

[spookycc]

From yahoo news: "The Italian premier, Silvio Berlusconi, pledged that it wouldn't derail Italy's commitment to helping Iraq."

[wimpycat]

I know, especially since it's not even what Bush said.

[spookycc]

**since President Bush declared an end to active combat May 1**

I'm REALLY getting tired of this line.

Couldn't agree more. Even FNC uses that line all the time.

[livius]

I would doubt that this was done by Iraqis. Osama specifically threatened our allies in his last raving, and I think this is likely to be al Qaida work rather than Baathist work, particularly since this area has been quiet.

They definitely want to get our allies to abandon Iraq, though. The left in Italy is going to use it to put pressure on the Italian government to withdraw, although I hope the govt. doesn't give in.

[rintense]

Prayers for our brave allies, the Italians, who died in the attack. These terrorists should know better than to attack Italians...

[risk]

bump

[boxerblues]

Now Italian soldiers are being counted with American deaths.

[OXENinFLA]

http://famulus.msnbc.com/FamulusIntl/reuters11-12-033658a.asp?reg=MIDEAST

Berlusconi says Italy won't be intimidated by bomb

ROME, Nov. 12 Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi said Italy would not be intimidated by a bombing that killed at least 12 Italian military and eight Iraqis in the southern Iraqi city of Nassiriya on Wednesday.

''No intimidation will budge us from our willingness to help that country rise up again and rebuild itself with self-government, security and freedom,'' he said in a statement.

The blast, which also wounded at least 12 people, targeted the headquarters of the Italian military police in Nassiriya.

[Brian S]

Bomb at Italian Base in Iraq Kills at Least 22
Wed November 12, 2003 08:01 AM ET


By Khudair Majeed

NASSIRIYA, Iraq (Reuters) - A car bomb ripped through an Italian military police base in the Iraqi town of Nassiriya on Wednesday, killing at least 14 Italians and eight Iraqis in what appeared to be a fresh suicide attack.

The attack occurred as Washington attempted to speed up the process of handing over power to an Iraqi government, although U.S. officials insist this is not an exit strategy.

Carabinieri military police officials in Rome said the Italian deaths were believed to be 11 military police and three army soldiers. Hospital officials in Nassiriya said eight Iraqis were killed.

"A truck crashed into the entrance of the military police unit, closely followed by a car which detonated," said a spokeswoman for the British-led multinational force in southern Iraq.

The bomb threw up a huge plume of dust and smoke and shattered windows hundreds of meters (yards) away. Several houses around the base were badly damaged and dozens of wounded Iraqis were admitted to hospital.

"A car bomber crashed through the compound where the Italians live," said Aysha Abdul Wahab who lives near the base and spoke to Reuters by telephone. "The explosions damaged a number of houses. My two daughters are injured."

Around 2,300 Italian troops are in southern Iraq, many based in Nassiriya on the banks of the Euphrates river which had been relatively calm since the war. Italian and Romanian forces in the city, part of the British-led force, have been generally well received by locals.

BLOODIEST ATTACK SINCE AUGUST

The blast, described by Pope John Paul as a "vile attack" against a mission of peace, was the bloodiest single attack in Iraq since August when at least 80 Iraqis were killed by a car bomb outside a mosque in Najaf.

Earlier that month, a suicide bomber killed 22 people in an attack on the U.N. headquarters in Baghdad.

Wednesday's deaths were the first among non-British members of the southern multinational force in hostile fire. Last week guerrillas shot dead a Polish major serving in a separate multinational force in central Iraq.

Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi said Italy would not be intimidated by the bombing.

"No intimidation will budge us from our willingness to help that country rise up again and rebuild itself with self-government, security and freedom," he said in a statement.

Attacks in Iraq have killed at least 155 U.S. and 12 British soldiers since major combat was declared over on May 1.

A bomb attack in Baghdad on Tuesday killed a U.S. soldier and wounded two, a U.S. military statement said on Wednesday. The U.S. military also said a U.S. soldier was killed north of Baghdad on Tuesday evening when his vehicle drove over a bomb planted on a road.

URGENT TALKS AT WHITE HOUSE

Top U.S. officials, including Iraq governor Paul Bremer who was summoned from Baghdad, held a hastily convened White House meeting on Tuesday to discuss ways to accelerate the shift from U.S. to Iraqi control, amid indications President Bush's administration was rethinking policy.

Washington wants the U.S.-appointed Iraqi Governing Council to agree a method for drawing up a constitution, which would pave the way for democratic elections and a handover of power.

The U.N. Security Council has set a December 15 deadline for the Governing Council to schedule a timetable for the political transition.

A senior U.S. official Bremer was not expected to leave his job but other officials said there was mounting friction between the U.S. governor and Washington over his resistance to accelerating the transfer of authority to Iraqis.

Jalal Talabani, an Iraqi Kurd who holds the rotating presidency of the Governing Council, said the best way forward was to install a provisional government without delay.

"I think it is very reasonable and necessary to have a provisional government before having a constitution," Talabani told Reuters in an interview.

The Council, however, has not won wide support among Iraqis and an unelected government would be unlikely to be welcomed. (Additional reporting by Rosalind Russell, Alistair Lyon in Baghdad and Antonella Cinelli in Rome).

[LikeLight]

I listened to NPR briefly this A.M. in my vehicle . . . I kid you not, they said "12 PEOPLE were killed, along with 8 Iraqis" . . . does this tell you something about their world view? . . . typical twisted liberalism . . .

[archy]

Now Italian soldiers are being counted with American deaths.

I don't have a big problem with that. They stood side-by-side with us, took the same risks, and were there to do the same job.

Had I but known yesterday, they'd have been included in the thoughts of those who more usually share rememberence as our allies and partners. And next year, they will be.

Some new songs to learn, some new traditions to learn:

Saluto a voi, soldati Italiani caduti!

Italian Bersaglieri of the 18th regiment, wearing the distinctive black cockerel-feather plumes on the steel helmet take part in a training session in the White Horse barracks where their ground forces headquarters are located, in the outskirts of the city of Nasiriyah in southern Iraq (news - web sites), in this July 8, 2003 file photo. According to reports at least 12 Italians were killed - 9 of them believed to be Carabinieri MSU Multinational Specialized Unit military police officers and 3 others of the Italian army - in a bombing at the MSU Nasiriyah base early Wednesday Nov. 12, 2003.

(AP Photo/Andrew Medichini, File)