The Arabic language television station Al-Jazeera said eight Iraqis
were also killed. It was the first such attack in this relatively quiet
Shiite Muslim city since the beginning of the U.S.-led occupation and
appeared aimed at sending a message to international organizations that
they are not safe anywhere in Iraq (news
- web
sites).
Italian President Carlo Azeglio Ciampi called the bombing a "terrorist
act." The Italian premier, Silvio Berlusconi, pledged that it wouldn't
derail Italy's commitment to helping Iraq.
A Carabinieri official in Rome, Maj. Roberto Riccardi, confirmed that
14 Italians were dead: 11 Carabinieri paramilitary police and three Army
soldiers.
A coalition spokesman, Andrea Angeli, said by telephone from Nasiriyah
that a truck bomb caused the explosion and that some Iraqis were also
killed.
Angeli said the explosion occurred after a truck rammed the gate of the
Italian compound and exploded in front of the Carabinieri building, which
was the former chamber of commerce (news
- web
sites) building. He said the force of the explosion was so strong that
it blew out windows in another building across the Euphrates River. All
the vehicles parked outside the stricken building exploded in flames.
Angeli said secondary explosions from ammunition stored in the compound
rocked the area moments after the main blast.
Riccardi said the building was in flames, and that some Italians may be
under the debris, although details were difficult to come by because
communication had been severed.
"We cannot exclude the possibility that there are soldiers under the
rubble," he said by telephone.
In separate attacks, an American soldier was killed when a roadside
bomb exploded near a U.S. patrol by the town of Taji northwest of Baghdad,
the U.S. military said. A 1st Armored Division soldier died of wounds
suffered in a roadside bombing in Baghdad on Tuesday, the military added.
Their deaths bring to 153 the number of soldiers killed by hostile fire
since President Bush (news
- web
sites) declared an end to active combat May 1.
In Nasiriyah, about 180 miles southeast of Baghdad, the explosive
device went off at about 10:40 a.m. Iraqi time at the Carabinieri's
multinational specialist unit, the Italian paramilitary police said in a
statement. The statement said that the explosion occurred in front of the
base.
Italy has sent about 2,300 troops to help the reconstruction in Iraq.
About 340 Carabinieri are based in the Nasiriyah camp, along with 110
Romanians.
Alice Moldovan, a spokeswoman for Romania's Defense Ministry, said
there were no reports of Romanian victims.
Carabinieri are paramilitary police under the Defense Ministry, and
frequently serve in international missions such as in Afghanistan (news
- web
sites) and the Balkans.
Since August, vehicle bombs have targeted several international
buildings, including the United Nations (news
- web
sites) headquarters, the offices of the international Red Cross, the
Baghdad Hotel and the Turkish and Jordanian embassies in Baghdad.
Although Nasiriyah has been quiet in recent months, it was the scene of
heavy fighting during the war. It was where the 507th Maintenance Company
was ambushed in March and where a number of Americans were captured,
including Jessica Lynch.
Italy had suffered no combat deaths during the occupation. The Italian
official heading up U.S. efforts to recover Iraq's looted antiquities,
Pietro Cordone, was in a car that came under mistaken U.S. fire in
September in northern Iraq. Cordone's Iraqi interpreter was killed in the
shooting.
Earlier Wednesday, a member of the Iraqi Governing Council said the
body was not to blame for the lack of progress in drafting a new
constitution that would enable democratic elections and a return to Iraqi
independence.
The comments by Mahmoud Othman, a Sunni Kurd member of the
U.S.-appointed body, follow reports that President Bush's national
security advisers are frustrated by the council's performance and are
consulting with Iraq's top American administrator, L. Paul Bremer, over
how to break the constitutional deadlock.
"Such accusations are unreasonable and do no good for the country,"
Othman said. "The Governing Council should not alone bear the
responsibility of any inefficiency."
Othman, who has been a member of the 25-seat body since it was formed
by the U.S.-led occupation authorities in July, acknowledged that the
constitutional process was moving too slowly but said Iraq's U.S.-led
administration bore much of the blame.
"This is supposed to be a partnership based on equality," Othman said
in an interview. "But when Americans want to find solution for their
problems, they do it in any way that suits them."
Bremer � who was abruptly summoned to Washington on Tuesday � attended
a White House meeting with Secretary of State Colin Powell (news
- web
sites), Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld, National Security
Adviser Condoleezza Rice (news
- web
sites) and other key officials.
Administration officials expressed disappointment in the council's work
but said Bush was not about to disband it.
"The notion that we are about to throw the council to the wolves is
exaggerated," a senior administration official said, speaking on condition
of anonymity. "But there is a need to put some energy into the political
transition."
U.S. officials believe that key members of the Iraqi council are
stalling in hopes of winning concessions from American leaders under
political pressure to turn over power to the Iraqis. In contrast, Bremer
wants to transfer sovereignty after the Iraqis draft a constitution and
hold national elections.
Othman denied that members of the body were intentionally stalling work
on the new charter in order to exert pressure on Bremer.
"It is true that council members are demanding more powers, but they
are not trying to use the slowness in the process of work as a weapon to
gain concessions," he said.
The Iraqis have yet to agree on how to choose delegates to draw up a
constitution.
Some council members are also pushing for an Iraqi-controlled
paramilitary force to fight the insurgents, something Bremer opposes
without coalition oversight and control.
One member of the body, Kurdish leader Massoud Barzani, recommended
that it be radically reformed.
"There are deficiencies in (the performance of) the Governing Council,
which need radical reform," Barzani told the pan-Arab newspaper Asharq
Al-Awsat in an interview published Wednesday.
"Even with these deficiencies, I don't see a better alternative to this
council � at least for the time being," said Barzani, who leads the
Kurdistan Democratic Party.
