Italy set to keep troops in Iraq

By David Willey
BBC News in Rome

Public opinion in Italy is against the troops' presence in Iraq

Italian troops are set to stay in Iraq until the end of the year, after the lower house of parliament backed a bill to provide funding.

The bill will go to the upper house for final approval next week.

Italy sent 3,000 troops to Iraq after the war in 2003, but the policy has not proved popular with the Italian public.

Twenty members of the contingent have died since they deployed, including 19 killed in a single suicide bomb attack in Nasiriya in November 2003.

A small opposition party voted with the government coalition in favour of extending the Italian military presence in southern Iraq for another six months, giving the government a comfortable majority of more than 70 votes.

Unpopular stance

Defence Minister Antonio Martino told parliament earlier that a gradual withdrawal of the Italian contingent from Iraq was not far off.

Three hundred troops, one-tenth of the force, are to be brought home in September.

Italian public opinion has consistently opposed the war in Iraq, but Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi has so far been a staunch supporter of the US-led invasion.

Italy's military presence in Iraq is being seen by many Italians as increasing the threat of a terrorist attack at home.

The government is expected to decide on Friday on a set of new anti-terrorist measures aimed at beefing up national security after the London bombings.