Italy pays last respects to six soldiers killed in Afghanistan

Sep 21, 2009, 11:12 GMT

Rome - Thousands of Italians, many holding their country's tricolour flag, gathered Monday outside a Rome church for the state funeral of six soldiers killed last week in a suicide bombing in Afghanistan.

They applauded as paratroopers from the elite Folgore unit carried the six flag-draped coffins bearing their dead comrades into the Basilica of St Paul Outside the Walls.

Inside, President Giorgio Napolitano and Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, joined relatives of the dead soldiers, some of them clutching framed photographs of their beloved and sobbing quietly.

Seven-year-old Martin Fortunato, the son of one of the dead soldiers, wore on the reddish-purple beret of the Folgore unit.

Last Thursday's attack in Kabul in which at least 10 Afghan civilians were also killed, was the worst suffered by Italy's military contingent in Afghanistan.

It triggered fresh debate, including within Berlusconi's conservative government, over Italy's role in the NATO security mission in the Asian country.

But on Monday political divisions were cast aside as the nation paid its last respects to the six soldiers whose ages ranged from 26 to 37.

The funeral ceremony was briefly interrupted by a man who rushed up to a microphone and shouted: 'Peace Now!' the ANSA news agency reported. He was immediately led away.

Pope Benedict XVI, in a message read out during the service, said he offered prayers for those who 'every day strive to build a world of solidarity, reconciliation and peace.'

Twenty-one Italian soldiers have been killed in Afghanistan since Italy began deploying troops there in the aftermath of the 2001 US- led invasion. Some 2,800 soldiers are currently deployed in Afghanistan.

Leaders of Berlusconi's junior partner in government, the Northern League party have repeatedly called for the withdrawal of the troops.

However, Berlusconi has assured US President Barack Obama of Italy's commitment to the West's military mission in Afghanistan where US troops have been involved in most of the fighting and have suffered the greatest losses.