Analysis: Why Nasiriya?

By Magdi Abdelhadi
BBC Arab affairs reporter

The attack on Nasiriya is a deliberate attempt to shatter the calm which has prevailed there since the fall of Baghdad in April.

The bombers were sending a double message

Nasiriya was once the scene of some of the fiercest fighting at the start of the Anglo-American invasion of Iraq in March.

Those doing the fighting then were troops loyal to the ousted Iraqi leader, Saddam Hussein.

But the people of Nasiriya - like the rest of southern Iraq - are predominantly Shia and were quite happy to be rid of the Baath regime.

That is why the town has remained relatively calm since the fall of Baghdad.

The explosion targeting the Italian base there appears to have had two aims.

Firstly, to show that the resistance to the occupation is spreading to the rest of Iraq and no longer confined to the north of Baghdad - the area known as the Sunni triangle.

Secondly, the planners hope the attack on the Italians will deter other countries which might be contemplating sending troops to Iraq to help the Americans and British to control the rapidly deteriorating security situation there.

The fact that the attack was a suicide bombing will once again raise the question of whether al-Qaeda is involved.

Suicide attacks have been identified as the favoured weapon of al-Qaeda and other Islamist militants.