Italy's Minister of Defense Antonio Martino said Thursday the "same hand" had struck the Italian police base in Nasiriyah as the United States on September 11, 2001 while the death toll from the suicide bombing at the base rose to 32.
"For me it is the same hand as for September 11," he told reporters at the base demolished Wednesday by a suicide bombing that killed at least 18 Italians and nine Iraqis.
"Nothing will change for our contingent. Security will of course be drastically reinforced," he said.
Wearing a bullet-proof vest, Martino arrived in a helicopter that landed close to the site, before being driven to the scene in a convoy under the close protection of two more hovering occupation helicopters.
Martino, who stayed just a few minutes on the bomb site, had earlier visited the injured Italians at a military hospital outside Nasiriyah.
Meanwhile, an Italian source said the bodies of the slain Italians would be flown home later Thursday aboard a plane chartered for the mission.
Martino blamed the attack on Saddam Hussein loyalists and al-Qaeda "terrorists."
Martino made his comments to Italian state television Thursday after he arrived at the attack site.
Italy has "some fairly reliable intelligence information" that the Fedayeen Saddam, the toppled leader's former paramilitary force, was responsible along with "regrouped al-Qaeda terrorists," he said. (Albawaba.com)
© 2003 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
