IRAQ: IRAQIS IN NASSIRIYA CONDEMN SUICIDE ATTACK ON ITALIAN MILITARY BASE.

Record ID: 355732

  • Title: IRAQ: IRAQIS IN NASSIRIYA CONDEMN SUICIDE ATTACK ON ITALIAN MILITARY BASE.
  • Date: 13th November 2003
  • Summary: (W5) NASSIRIYA, SOUTH OF BAGHDAD, IRAQ (NOVEMBER 13, 2003) (REUTERS) 1. STREET SCENES IN NASSIRIYA CITY 2. (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) SAADI SALEH, SAYING: "We condemned this attack because it hurt the citizens more that the foreign troops and the coalition forces. This act, which is considered as a resistance act hurt the Iraqi people more than the coali
  • Embargoed: 28th November 2003 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: NASSIRIYA, IRAQ
  • Country: Iraq
  • Reuters ID: LVA4H3RB4TR8AGK0N1GVB7E0WZCQ
  • Story Text: Residents in Nassiriya condemn the attack
    on the Italian military base.



    Residents of Nassiriya condemned the loss of lives
    after suicide bombers killed 27 people at an Italian
    military base in southern Iraq on Wednesday (November 12).

    The dead included 16 Italian police officers and two
    Italian civilians, Italy's highest military death toll in
    one incident since World War Two.

    Nine Iraqis were killed in the attack.

    By Thursday (November 13) Iraqis going about their
    daily lives in Nassiriya condemned the attack.

    One resident said the resistance against foreign troops
    in Iraq was hurting the Iraqi people themselves.

    "We condemned this attack because it hurt the citizens
    more that the foreign troops and the coalition forces,"
    said Saadi Saleh.

    "This is a criminal act that targets the people of the
    city more than the Italians," said another Nassiriya
    resident, Ahmed Aidan.

    One woman, amongst the wounded in a nearby Nassiriya
    hospital described the attack, saying, "I heard shooting
    and then the explosion happened and I found myself in the
    hospital".

    The blast tore off the front of a three-storey concrete
    building on the Euphrates riverfront where the Italian
    military were based.

    An Italian military spokesman said 21 Italian wounded,
    along with the bodies of the dead, would be flown home on
    Thursday or Friday (November 14).

    As Italy mourned and flags flew at half-mast, the
    country's cabinet confirmed that Rome would keep its 2,300
    troops in Iraq.


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