Blast kills 2 Italian soldiers, 1 Romanian in Iraq

ROME, Apr 27 (Reuters) Two Italian soldiers and one Romanian were killed today when a roadside bomb ripped through their convoy in southern Iraq, the Italian defence ministry said.

The ministry had previously said three Italian troops and one Romanian had died, but subsequently revised the death toll.

It said a third Italian soldier was seriously wounded in the deadliest attack suffered by Italian troops in Iraq since a 2003 suicide bombing killed 19 Italians, mostly military, in the city of Nassiriya.

Today's explosion occurred at 8.50 a.m. local time 1020 Hrs Ist on a road southwest of Nassiriya, where the Italian contingent in Iraq is based.

Italy has some 2,600 troops in Iraq which it plans to withdraw by the end of this year.

''This is a tragedy for the whole of Italy,'' prime minister-in-waiting Romano Prodi said in a statement.

The deaths could aggravate tensions in Prodi's broad centre-left coalition, which narrowly won this month's general election, between those on the far left who want an immediate pullout and those like Prodi who favour a phased withdrawal.

REUTERS KD PM1401