'There were dead bodies everywhere, it seemed like the end of the world'

'There were dead bodies everywhere, it seemed like the end of the world'
(Filed: 13/11/2003)


Guards opened fire but they could not stop the speeding tanker packed with explosives. Jack Fairweather reports from Nasiriyah

The Italian military compound was the softest of targets. Unlike the fortresses of coalition units in Baghdad, sheltering behind concrete crash barriers, the Italian police station in Nasiriyah had only a few rolls of barbed wire and sandbags to protect it.

Although the scene of some of the heaviest fighting during the war, Nasiriyah has since welcomed foreigners and the Italians were tragically ill-prepared for what was to hit them at 10.40 yesterday morning.

A tanker lorry drove up to the gates of the police compound. Italian guards opened fire as the vehicle approached, with one of the two men in the cab shooting back as it roared towards the three-storey building. The guards could not stop it. The lorry, packed with explosives, careered into a water tanker before detonating.

The explosion scattered vehicle parts over a 200-yard radius. A second vehicle that appeared to be supervising the operation drove hastily away.'

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http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2003/11/13/wirq113.xml&sSheet=/news/2003/11/13/ixnewstop.html

sympathy to these victims