Updated: 08:28 AM EST
Blast Hits Italian Police Headquarters in Iraq
At Least 14 Killed, Police Say
By SAMEER N. YACOUB, AP
BAGHDAD, Iraq (Nov. 12) - A truck bomb rocked the headquarters of the Italian
Carabinieri police in the southern Iraqi city of Nasiriyah on Wednesday,
killing at least 14 Italians and possibly trapping others under the debris,
Carabinieri officials said in Rome.
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.
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 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 declared an end to active combat May 1.
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Another Blast in Iraq
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 and the Balkans.
Since August, vehicle bombs have targeted several international buildings,
including the United Nations 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, Defense Secretary Donald H.
Rumsfeld, National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice 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.
11-12-03 0728EST
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