Italy blames Arab extremists
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Berlusconi addressing the Italian parliament
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ROME, Italy (CNN) -- Italian Defense Minister Antonio Martino Wednesday blamed the suicide attack against the military police and army headquarters in Nasiriya, Iraq, on Arab extremists and guerrillas sympathetic to the former regime of Saddam Hussein.
The Italian death toll from the bombing is now 17, said Lt. Catherine McIntosh, a British spokeswoman with Multinational defense forces. Eight Iraqis also were killed.
Martino told the Italian Senate the dead included 11 Italian Carabinieri military police and three army soldiers. Martino also mentioned a civilian but didn't elaborate. Eight Iraqis also died, and an unknown number of people were wounded.
Martino and Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, addressing the Italian parliament, expressed sorrow for the casualties. (Full story)
They also called for unity among Italians and pledged Italy's commitment to the American cause to make Iraq independent.
"No intimidation must move us away from the willingness to help that country to be free, ever since a terrible war was declared by terrorism," Berlusconi said.
Martino added that that commitment requires resources and "a constant spirit of sacrifice" on the part of Italians.
"It is very hard to protect our soldiers from a suicide attack," Martino said.
Berlusconi said a barracks of the Italian police and army collapsed from the explosion. Sixty are Italians based there, but he said he didn't know how many were in the building at the time.
Italians staged some of the largest protests against the Iraqi war. Italian troops didn't fight in the war, but went to Iraq for the peacekeeping mission in early summer.
