- ROME (Reuters) -- A rocket
or mortar round struck the Italian embassy in Baghdad late Wednesday causing
structural damage but no injuries, Italian news agency ANSA reported.
-
- The missile hit the second floor of the building at around
11.30 p.m. local time, ANSA said, adding that very few people had been
in the embassy at the time of the attack.
-
- Italian forces and officials have been on high alert
in Iraq since a suicide attack killed 19 Italians in the southern city
of Nassiriya earlier this month.
-
- Wednesday's strike came just a day after rockets hit
the sprawling compound of the U.S.-British administration in Baghdad. A
U.S. spokesman said no-one was injured in that attack.
-
- Last week U.S. military said they found several rockets
stashed in a street close to Italy's Baghdad embassy.
-
- Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi was a vocal
supporter of the United States during the war on Iraq and subsequently
sent 2,700 troops to help stabilize the country.
-
- Despite the Nassiriya mayhem, Italy has vowed to keep
its contingent in Iraq.
-
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