Italians honour six dead soldiers

ITALY bade farewell to six soldiers killed in Afghanistan with a day of national mourning and a state funeral yesterday which drew the country’s top officials and thousands of people.

The crowd applauded as the coffins of the six victims, draped in the Italian flag, were carried inside the Basilica of St Paul Outside the Walls in Rome by fellow soldiers.

An honour guard saluted the coffins and many outside the basilica waved Italian flags.

Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi shook hands with relatives of the six men killed in a roadside bombing last week in the Afghan capital, Kabul.

The attack also injured four other Italians and killed 10 Afghans.

It was Italy’s deadliest day in the Afghan conflict.