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Italian soldier killed in Iraq
AN Italian soldier was killed and four others wounded in Iraq early today when their military convoy was attacked near Nassiriyah in the south of the country, a defence ministry official said.The Italian soldiers' vehicle was hit by a roadside bomb, Admiral Gianpaolo Di Paolo said. One of the wounded soldiers suffered serious injuries, he said. The soldiers were escorting a British convoy on its way to Tallil, and were some 100km north of Nassiriyah about 3.30am Tuesday AEST when the attack occurred. Prime Minister Romani Prodi expressed his "sorrow for this new grief to befall the Italian people". Mr Prodi's centre-left government, which won general elections in April, has announced plans to reduce the number of Italian soldiers deployed in Iraq from 2700 to 1600 during this month and to repatriate the remainder by the end of the year. The military contingent will be replaced by a civil group still to be defined. Several leaders of the centre-left coalition government tonight called for an immediate withdrawal of the troops from Iraq. The Italian troops were sent to Iraq in 2003 under former prime minister Silvio Berlusconi, who was a strong ally of US President George W. Bush. Italian public opinion has been against the Iraqi war. In the past three years, 34 Italian soldiers have been killed in Iraq, including the latest casualty. Posted by: Oztralian 2006-06-05 |
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