Bomb kills at least 26 in Italian police base

A SUICIDE bomb attack at the headquarters of Italy’s paramilitary police in southern Nasiriyah yesterday killed at least 26 people — including 18 Italians — and possibly left others trapped in the debris.

A police officer at the scene said two suicide bombers were aboard the tanker lorry that was driven into the Italian base.

"One of them opened fire on the guards , as the other person was driving the vehicle," said the policeman asking not to be identified.

"The explosion occurred at the entrance, destroying 70% of the three-storey building," he said. A physician at the city's general hospital, Hussein Abbas, said nine Iraqi civilians were killed and 59 wounded.

A thick pall of smoke rose into the sky above the three-storey riverside building.

Marina Catena, political counsellor at the Italian Embassy in Baghdad, said the base belonged to the 300-strong Multi Specialised Unit (MSU) of the Carabinieri set up three years ago, which had already served in Kosovo and Afghanistan.

It was the deadliest toll suffered by non-American coalition forces since the occupation began in April, and the first such attack in Nasiriyah, a relatively quiet Shi'ite Muslim city.

The bombing appeared aimed at sending the message that international organisations are not safe anywhere in Iraq. In Rome, Defence Minister Antonio Martino's department confirmed 18 Italians were killed: 12 Carabinieri paramilitary police, four army soldiers, an Italian civilian working at the base and an Italian documentary filmmaker. About 20 people were wounded, although their nationalities were not known, Italian officials said. Italian President Carlo Azeglio Ciampi called the bombing a "terrorist act", while Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi pledged that it wouldn't derail his country's commitment to helping in Iraq.

The truck rammed the gate of the Italian compound and exploded in front of the Carabinieri building, which was the former chamber of commerce building, coalition spokesman Andrea Angeli said.

He said the force of the explosion blew out windows in another building across the Euphrates River. All the vehicles parked outside the stricken building exploded into flames.

Mr Angeli said secondary explosions from ammunition stored in the compound rocked the area moments after the initial blast.

The truck bomb in Nasiriyah, about 180 miles southeast of Baghdad, went off at about 10.40am, the Italian paramilitary police said.

Italian Defence Minister Antonio Martino blamed supporters of deposed Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein for the attack "We can say that according to information provided by our intelligence services the attack was planned and carried out by cells of Saddam's Fedayeen militia," Mr Martino told the upper house of parliament.

Pope John Paul II voiced his sorrow at the "vile attack".

"I have learnt with deep sorrow the news of this vile attack in Nasiriyah where Italian Carabinieri and soldiers lost their lives while carrying out their selfless mission of peace," the Pope wrote in a message to Mr Ciampi.

"I voice the strongest condemnation of this new act of violence which adds to the others committed in this tormented country and which do not help to bring peace and reconstruction," he added.

The European Union and three EU members, which vehemently opposed the US-led invasion of Iraq France, Germany and Belgium all voiced shock and sadness.

Romano Prodi, the Italian head of the European Commission, said: "I wish to express my deep solidarity and my heartfelt sympathy to the families of the victims, to the Italian Government and to the Carabinieri Corps."

Italy has sent about 2,300 troops to help re-build Iraq. About 340 Carabinieri are based in Nasiriyah. Italy had suffered no combat deaths during the occupation. The Italian official heading US efforts to recover Iraq's looted antiquities was in a car that came under mistaken US fire in September in northern Iraq. His Iraqi interpreter was killed.