Reports of Threats to Nasiriyah Base Were Disregarded. More than a month before suicide bombers blew up Italian military headquarters in the southern Iraqi city of Nasiriyah on Nov. 12, Italian intelligence officers warned three times of an imminent attack on their country’s contingent in the city, according to intelligence reports. The warnings were communicated up the Italian chain of command but resulted in no new security precautions at the headquarters, Western sources said. The Italian government has denied receiving specific warnings of an impending attack. Kamikaze drivers were able to navigate a Soviet-built truck bearing more than 800 pounds of explosives into the entrance of the compound, where they detonated a huge explosion that ripped off the façade of the headquarters. The blast killed 13 members of the carabinieri paramilitary police, four Italian soldiers, two Italian civilians and 11 Iraqi bystanders. It was the worst attack in an expanding series of assaults on U.S. allies in Iraq. Full Story
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