Italy vows to stay course in Iraq

Italians in Iraq are shocked at being targeted by the bombers

Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi has said his country will not be deterred by a bomb in Iraq which claimed the lives of 18 Italians.

It remained committed, he said, to helping Iraq rebuild and form a government in "security and freedom".

But Japan has said it will postpone sending its troops to Iraq until next year because of the security situation.

At the bomb site in Nasiriya, rescuers worked through the night in the hope of finding survivors under the rubble.

Italian officials confirmed on Wednesday evening the deaths of 16 Italian military and police personnel, two Italian civilians and nine Iraqis.

A further 20 Italians and 59 Iraqis were wounded in the attack in which a suicide squad driving a petrol tanker rammed Italian police headquarters in Nasiriya, a Shia Muslim town in the south of the country.

'Troops out'

It was the single biggest loss of life for a member of the US-led coalition since the start of the war in Iraq in March.

Concern over security in the town has also led to a Portuguese contingent, the first to be deployed in Iraq, being sent to Basra instead.

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Prime Minister Berlusconi's words were echoed by the Italian President, Carlo Azeglio Ciampi, who said the troops in Iraq were there "with a mandate and the will of parliament".

"All of Italy is behind them," he said, before leaving for the United States where he will meet President Bush and United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan.

Soldier's last letter home In pictures: Nasiriya blast Italian newspapers' shock

However, the leftist opposition bitterly condemned Mr Berlusconi's decision to contribute troops to the US-led occupation.

"They were sent to an Iraq in flames because the government wanted to do a favour for the Bush administration without taking risks into consideration," said Pietro Folena of the main opposition party, the Democrats of the Left.

"Now the Italian soldiers must come home. It is the only right thing to do at this moment."

Japan has said that it will delay sending any troops until some time in 2004.

"If the situation allowed our Self-Defence Forces to participate, they could go at any time," said Chief Cabinet Secretary Yasuo Fukuda.

"Unfortunately, it is not such a situation," he said.

Terrible blow

On the ground in Iraq, Italians expressed shock at being chosen as the target for the bombers.

"This attack really surprised us," said Marina Catena, a political counsellor at the Italian embassy in Baghdad.

"The contingent had received no threat."

Ms Catena said that Italian embassy staff had, on the contrary, recently spent time at the police HQ after receiving a threat in Baghdad.

The BBC's Paul Adams reports from Nasiriya that the attack is not only a terrible blow for the Italians who appear to enjoy considerable local support.

It is also, he says, a worrying sign for the British-led multinational division in southern Iraq.

There had been numerous minor incidents including a spate of small bomb attacks in Basra but nothing remotely on the scale of Wednesday's bomb.

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