Italy: Italians left flowers and tributes at the tomb of the unknown soldier yesterday where the bodies of 17 troops and two civilians killed in Italy's worst military loss of life since World War Two will lay in state before a national funeral.
Children with drawings, men and women with flags and bouquets came in a steady stream to the black iron gates at the white marble monument in central Rome.
Gaia Valdiserri, a small girl, left a drawing of the suicide truck bomb that blasted through Italy's Carabinieri military police base in the southern Iraqi city of Nassiriyah on Wednesday. On it she wrote: "We will see you in paradise." Scrawled in black ink across Italy's red, white and green flag, another mourner left the message: "We will never forget our heroes. Long live Italy."
The bodies, in a morgue yesterday, will be moved to the monument today so thousands can pay their respects.
The government has proclaimed a national day of mourning for tomorrow, when the state funeral will take place in St Paul's Basilica. President Carlo Azeglio Ciampi is cutting short a state visit to Washington to attend the funeral along with political and military leaders. The mass will be said by Cardinal Camillo Ruini, Pope John Paul's vicar for Rome.
On Saturday a military transport plane returned the flag-draped coffins of 16 soldiers and two civilians killed in the suicide attack. The body of the 19th victim, who died on Saturday, is due to be returned to Italy this morning. - (Reuters)