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Blasts rock Baghdad during U.S. operations

At least 25 killed in blast at Italian base

Wednesday, November 12, 2003 Posted: 2:47 PM EST (1947 GMT)

BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- U.S. forces launched operations Wednesday in southern Baghdad, Pentagon officials said, hours after a bombing that killed at least 25 people at the Italian military police headquarters in Nasiriya.

A CNN crew in the city heard dozens of explosions that persisted for at least a half hour.

Pentagon officials said the operation targeted a building that was believed to have been used by opposition forces. Officials from the 1st Armored Division in Baghdad said its units were involved.

Two U.S. warplanes on Monday dropped two bombs south of Baghdad on targets suspected of being a hideout and a weapons storage area for anti-U.S. forces, Pentagon officials said Wednesday.

A U.S. military statement said Monday's bombing was intended to send a message to insurgents. The bombs, each 2,000-pound Joint Direct Attack Munition precision weapons, were dropped from two F-16s.

At least 25 people were killed Wednesday in an explosion when two vehicles crashed the gate of the Italian military police headquarters in Nasiriya, Iraq, coalition and Iraqi hospital officials said.

The blast in the southeastern Iraqi city killed 17 Italians, coalition officials said.

Italian Defense Minister Antonio Martino told the lower house of the Italian parliament that 11 Carabinieri, or military police, four army soldiers and an Italian civilian died. British spokeswoman Lt. Catherine MacIntosh later said a second Italian civilian had died. The British are leading a multinational division in southern Iraq.

MacIntosh said 21 Italians were wounded and 12 Iraqis were wounded or missing.

Iraqi hospital sources told CNN that at least eight Iraqis also died. It was unclear how many people were wounded.

A truck barreled through the gate, followed by a sedan, and one of them exploded, coalition and Italian officials said. The car was carrying a detonator, but it wasn't clear whether that vehicle, the truck or the two were packed with explosives, officials said.

The blast leveled the building, and Italian defense officials said they expect the death toll to rise because some people are reportedly trapped under rubble.

The Pentagon described the bombing as a coordinated attack involving 10 people.

It marked the first attack on Italians since the end of major combat in Iraq. The Italian Ministry of Defense said about 2,500 Italians are based in the country.

In a statement, Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi said, "No intimidation will budge us from our willingness to help that country rise up again and rebuild itself with self-government, security and freedom." (Berlusconi defiant about Iraq)

President Bush offered U.S. condolences for the Italian deaths. "We appreciate their sacrifice," he said. "I appreciate the steadfast leadership of Prime Minister Berlusconi, who refused to yield in the face of terror."

In other violence, a roadside bomb hit a U.S. military convoy Tuesday night near the Iraqi capital, killing one U.S. soldier, according to a military spokeswoman.

The soldier was on combat patrol west of Taji, north of Baghdad, the spokeswoman said. No other casualties were reported in the attack, she said.

A 1st Armored Division soldier also was killed and two others wounded in a bomb attack Tuesday afternoon in Baghdad, coalition officials said.

Forty U.S. troops have died this month, bringing the number of U.S. forces killed in the Iraq war to 400. Since Bush declared an end to major combat May 1, 261 U.S. servicemen and women have been killed.

There is no reliable source for Iraqi civilian or combatant casualty figures, either during the period of major combat or after May 1. The Associated Press reported an estimated 3,240 civilian Iraqi deaths between March 20 and April 20, but the AP said that the figure was based on records of only half of Iraq's hospitals, and the actual number was thought to be significantly higher.