Italy brings home Iraq war dead

Nineteen troops died in the attack

The bodies of 18 Italian soldiers and policemen killed in a bomb blast in southern Iraq have been brought back to the capital Rome.

They were given full military honours after returning on a Hercules C-130 transport plane from Iraq.

The coffins will lie in state at a monument in Rome until Tuesday's state funeral and a national day of mourning.

Their return follows that of policemen wounded in the suicide bomb attack in Nasiriya on Wednesday.

A total of 19 troops died in the attack.

The body of the last victim, who died earlier on Saturday after his life support machine was switched off, is expected to return before Monday.

Blessing

The tricolour-draped coffins of the victims were carried off the plane by black-uniformed Carabinieri as a bugler played the Last Post and relatives comforted each other.

A priest then blessed the coffins and they were carried past an honour guard.

The wounded returned on Friday

Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, accompanied by the foreign and defence ministers and military chiefs, attended the ceremony.

The coffins were then carried to a fleet of hearses which took them under police guard to a clinic for formal identification by relatives.

In a speech earlier, Mr Berlusconi said he did not initially support a US-led invasion of Iraq.

"But when I saw there was no way (to prevent it), I stood by the United States," he added

Mr Berlusconi - while supporting the intervention in Iraq - did not send combat soldiers, but contributed troops after the fall of Baghdad to help in the reconstruction.

Tributes

Earlier, senior military officials greeted 20 wounded Italians - 17 injured in the blast and three hurt elsewhere while serving in Iraq - on their arrival at Rome airport.

The attack was deadliest against Italian forces since World War II

One survivor limped off the plane on crutches. Others appeared with bandages on their faces, or were loaded into ambulances.

Meanwhile, a fresh contingent of 75 carabinieri left by air from a secret location in northern Italy, bound for Iraq.

Military sources said the men were due to leave as part of normal rotation plans, but their departure confirmed the government's intention to maintain a full Italian presence in Iraq despite the attack.

Some 2,400 Italian soldiers are carrying out mine-clearing, policing and humanitarian work in southern Iraq which is under the overall military control of the British.

Italians form the third largest force within the Iraq coalition, after the Americans and the British.