Bomb at Italian base in Iraq kills at least 25

7.30am UPDATE

NASSIRIYA, Iraq - A car bomb ripped through an Italian military police base in the Iraqi town of Nassiriya on Wednesday, killing at least 17 Italians and eight Iraqis in what appeared to be a suicide attack.

The attack came as President George W. Bush and Iraq's US governor Paul Bremer discussed ways to speed the handover of power to the Iraqis in a second day of talks in Washington.

The blast tore off the front of the three-storey concrete building used by the Carabinieri on the Euphrates riverfront, set cars on fire and sent a plume of black smoke into the air.

"A truck crashed into the entrance of the military police unit, closely followed by a car which detonated," a spokeswoman for the British-led multinational force in southern Iraq said.

Italian Defence Minister Antonio Martino said the Italian dead were 11 Carabinieri military police, four soldiers and two civilians -- Italy's highest military death toll since World War 2.

Khudair al-Hazbar, director of Nassiriya General Hospital, told Reuters at least eight Iraqis were killed and more than 80 wounded.

One of the wounded was a one-year-old child who lost his eyes and nose. "He will die for sure," Hazbar said.

Ambulances and fire engines rushed to the scene with sirens wailing. The explosion shattered windows hundreds of metres away, and houses near the base were badly damaged.

"The front of my house is destroyed," Jamal Kadhim Shwail, a doctor who lives near the base, told Reuters by telephone. "I have just come back from the hospital where I operated on my own two daughters. It was a huge explosion. We are all in shock."

Martino said fighters loyal to Saddam Hussein were behind the attack.

"Evidence on the ground and intelligence reports lead us to believe that today's attack was planned and carried out by remnants loyal to Saddam...united with Arab extremists," he said.

Bremer flew from Baghdad to Washington on Tuesday for talks with top Bush aides on Iraq's future, amid signs of a shift in strategy to accelerate the pace of political change.

He disputed suggestions Iraq's Governing Council was failing and said Washington would continue to work with the group.

"I don't think it's fair to say the IGC (Iraqi Governing Council) is failing," Bremer told reporters after two days of meetings with Bush and other top administration officials.

Senior US officials said one proposal before Bush was to hold some form of elections in Iraq in four to six months to select a new group to write an Iraqi constitution, seen as a crucial step toward moving postwar Iraq to democracy.

Washington wants the US-appointed Governing Council to agree to a method for drawing up a constitution, which would pave the way for democratic elections and a handover of power.

The UN Security Council has set a December 15 deadline for the council to schedule a timetable for the political transition.

Jalal Talabani, who holds the rotating presidency of the Governing Council, said the best way forward was to install a provisional government without delay.

"I think it is very reasonable and necessary to have a provisional government before having a constitution," Talabani told Reuters in an interview.

Wednesday's bombing, described by Pope John Paul as a "vile attack" against a mission of peace, was the bloodiest single attack in Iraq since August when at least 80 Iraqis were killed by a car bomb outside a mosque in Najaf.

The Italian deaths were the first among non-British members of the southern multinational force in hostile fire.

Around 2300 Italian troops are in southern Iraq, many based in Nassiriya which had been relatively calm since the war. Italian and Romanian forces in the city, part of the British-led force, have been generally well received by locals.

Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi said Italian troops would stay.

The Philadelphia Inquirer newspaper said on Wednesday a new CIA report on Iraq warned of growing popular support for insurgents and warned that efforts to rebuild the country could collapse without immediate corrective action.

Attacks in Iraq have killed at least 155 US soldiers since major combat was declared over on May 1. Two US soldiers were killed in separate bomb attacks on Tuesday.

In the volatile town of Falluja, west of Baghdad, US soldiers opened fire on a truck at a checkpoint, killing five Iraqis, relatives and hospital officials said.

- REUTERS

Herald Feature: Iraq