At least 18 Italians including 12 Carabinieri, four regular army soldiers and two civilians, as well as 30 Iraqis were killed Wednesday as a blast hit the Italian police headquarters in the southern Iraqi town of Nasiriyah, the Italian news agency ANSA reported.  

These were Italy's first casualties since its troops joined the US-led stabilization force in Iraq. 

Italian President Carlo Azeglio Ciampi has called on all Italians to rally around the country's Carabinieri Corps.

In a televised statement to the country, Ciampi said his first thoughts went out to the relatives of those "killed in an ignoble act of terrorism. I share their sorrow and offer my full sympathy to the Carabinieri Corps."

Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini is also being kept fully informed on developments, government officials said.

A Portuguese eyewitness saw a truck exploded outside the Italian Carabinieri barracks in Iraq, Italian Carabinieri Chief of Staff General Guido Bellini said.

The explosion took place at 07:40 GMT and is believed to have been the work of a suicide bomber.

Italian forces to stay in Iraq despite suicide attack: Italian PM

Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi said Wednesday that the deaths of Italian peacekeeping soldiers in Iraq will not intimidate Italy into withdrawing its peacekeeping forces from the country.

"No intimidation will budge us from our willingness to help that country rise up again and rebuild itself with self-government, security and freedom," Berlusconi said in a statement, which was issued after he had conferred with President Carlo Azeglio Ciampi and Defense Minister Antonio Martino.

"Pain is at this time a feeling shared by the entire nation," Berlusconi said. "The whole country feels sorrow at this moment, a deep sorrow for those lives taken by terrorism while they were on a humanitarian mission to help the Iraqi people and in defense of peace and stability in the Middle East."

"But we also feel pride for the courage and humanity with which our troops ... have worked and still work to make the situation tolerable for children, women, the elderly and the weak who live in that martyred region," he added.

Wednesday's casualties were the most serious suffered by Italian forces engaged in peace missions since August 1997, when four Italian soldiers were killed in a helicopter crash in Lebanon.

Members of several Italian opposition parties on Wednesday demanded that the government withdraw its troops from Iraq to avoid more losses.

(Xinhua News Agency November 13, 2003)