Italy mourns lost servicemen

Italy suffered its single worst military loss since the Second World War in Iraq today when a lorry bomb killed at least 17 Italians – a catastrophic loss for a country whose government supported the war but whose people largely opposed it.

The nation was shaken: Italians left flowers for the fallen troops at Rome’s tomb of the unknown soldier, the green-white-and-red flag rippled at half mast at the parliament in Rome.