Italian sentenced for Iraq lapse

Gen Stano was in charge of Nasiriya when the attack happened in 2003

An Italian general has been sentenced to two years in prison for failing to provide proper security at an Iraqi base hit by a suicide attack.

Gen Bruno Stano was in charge of Nasiriya base, southern Iraq, when the attack killed 19 Italians.

He was given a suspended sentence by a military court judge.

He was charged last year with two other officers. Gen Vincenzo Lops was acquitted while Col Georg Di Pauli still faces military justice.

All three were charged with "omissions of military defence measures".

The generals were successive commanders of Italy's then 3,000-strong contingent in Iraq, while the colonel commanded a special police unit headquartered at the Nasiriya base.

The Nasiriya incident in 2003 was the worst single bomb attack on international peacekeepers in Iraq at the time, and the worst Italian military loss since World War II.

The Italians killed were 12 policemen, five army soldiers and two civilians. Another eight people died, and more than 80 were wounded.

In the attack, a small truck burst through the guard post at the entrance to the base before exploding, destroying the three-storey barracks.