|
Bomb at italian base kills 22 { November 12 2003 } Original Source Link: (May no longer be active)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A29271-2003Nov12.htmlhttp://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A29271-2003Nov12.html
Bomb at Italian Base in Iraq Kills at Least 22
By Anthony Shadid and Fred Barbash
Washington Post Staff Writers
Wednesday, November 12, 2003; 8:45 AM
BAGHDAD, Nov. 12 -- Insurgents bombed an Italian military police headquarters in the southern town of Nasiriyah Wednesday, killing at least 22 people, according to preliminary reports.
The death toll figures reported by Italian officials through the ANSA news agency in Rome, were early and uncertain. But the assault -- which appears to be deadliest single assault in an exceptionally deadly month -- demonstrated the capacity of the insurgents to maneuver among targets of opportunity and to hit at the south of Iraq as well as at the north and the west.
While November has been the most violent month in Iraq since the end of formal combat in May, most of the attacks, until today, have been in and around the so-called "Sunni triangle" north and west of Baghdad. U.S. officials have repeatedly stressed that the rest of Iraq has been relatively calm.
A bomb attack in Baghdad on Tuesday killed a U.S. soldier and wounded two, according to a U.S. military statement issued Wednesday. The U.S. military also said a U.S. soldier was killed north of Baghdad on Tuesday evening when his vehicle drove over a bomb planted on a road.
The Nasiriyah terrorism, according to U.S. military authorities, apparently began when a truck crashed through the front of the Italian security installation, followed by a car that might have carried the actual explosives. Much of the building collapsed, trapping an unknown number of people.
Among the dead, a spokesman for the Carabinieri (police) force in Rome told the Reuters news service, were include 11 Italian police officers, three Italian soldiers and eight Iraqis..
The attack was one in a series against non-U.S. targets apparently designed to discourage international cooperation with the United States.
In the past few months, terrorists have attacked the United Nations headquarters in Iraq, the International Red Cross, the Turkish and Jordanian embassies and most recently, a Polish officer stationed here as part of the U.S. led coalition.
The Italians participate in a British-led security force in southern Iraq. Italian participation sparked considerable domestic opposition, just as Britains's role has weakened the government of Prime Minister Tony Blair.
Within hours of the blast, the Italian opposition was weighing in, Reuters reported.
"They were sent to an Iraq in flames because the government wanted to do a favor for the Bush administration without taking risks into consideration," said Pietro Folena of the main opposition party, the Democrats of the Left. "Now the Italian soldiers must come home. It is the only right thing to do at this moment." Members of other opposition parties made similar demands.
In Rome, the Associated Press reported that Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi said Italy would not be intimidated.
"No intimidation will budge us from our willingness to help that country rise up again and rebuild itself with self-government, security and freedom," he said in a statement.
Today's violence came as American authorities conferred urgently in Washington with Iraq's U.S. appointed administrator L. Paul Bremer in an effort to speed up the reconstruction of Iraq and its government. It followed warnings Tuesday by the top commander here, Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez, that the violence -- he used the term "war" -- would continue for 30 to 60 days and that the United States would, in turn, escalate its military response.
Fred Barbash reported from Washington.
© 2003 The Washington Post Company
|
|
