Iraq suicide attack blast kills 24

A suicide bomber devastated the Italian military police headquarters in southern Iraq killing at least 24 people - most of them Italians.

The bomber drove a tanker truck into the compound in Nasiriyah, about 180 miles south-east of Baghdad, exploding the vehicle in a ball of flames

Witnesses  said the driver got past the gate guards after a car ran a roadblock, distracting the sentries. It was the deadliest attack suffered by non-American coalition forces since the occupation began in April, and the first in the relatively quiet Shiite Muslim city.

The bombing sent a chilling message that international organisations are not safe anywhere in Iraq. Italian President Carlo Azeglio Ciampi called the bombing a "terrorist act."

Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi pledged that it would not derail his country's commitment to helping Iraq. The Pope strongly condemned the blast, calling it a "cowardly attack."

Defence Minister Antinio Martino confirmed 15 Italians were killed: 11 Carabinieri paramilitary police, three  soldiers, and an Italian civilian working at the base. A coalition spokesman, Andrea Angeli, said eight Iraqis died. A Briton in a nearby building was injured.

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 office.

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 exploded in flames, and that some Italians may be under the debris, although details were difficult to come by because communication had been severed.

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