Italian Defense Minister Arturo Parisi said on Tuesday that the latest attack on Italian forces in Iraq would have no effect on current plans to withdraw troops by the end of the year.

On Monday an Italian soldier was killed and four others wounded, one seriously, in a bomb attack in north Nassiriya, the southern Iraqi city where the Italian contingent is based.

"We were already very concerned and now we are even more so, but nothing will change as far as the return of troops is concerned," Parisi said.

"The government was already arranging the withdrawal in accord with the Iraqi government and allied forces," said the minister, who visited Italian troops in Nassiriya last week.

Local media reported that the attack happened in the evening. The five soldiers were from the Sassari infantry regiment and were aboard an Italian vehicle escorting a British convoy on the road to Tallil at the time.

According to the initial version of events, the bomb was a rudimentary explosive device detonated from a distance as the convoy passed. It was unclear whether the bombers intended to target the Italian members of the convoy or not.

Corporal Alessandro Pibiri, 25, died soon after the blast. Corporal Luca Daga, 28, is said to be in a critical condition, while three others - Fulvio Concas, Manuele Pilia and Yari Contu - have slight injuries, the reports said.

Corporal Pibiri's death raises the number of Italians killed in Iraq since 2003 to 38. The most recent attack was on April 27, when four soldiers were killed in a roadside bombing similar to Monday's.

Soon after news of the latest attack broke late on Monday, Italian President Giorgio Napolitano and Prime Minister Romano Prodi expressed their grief and solidarity with the troops in Iraq.

Prodi has said Italian troops will be withdrawn from Iraq as soon as technically possible, in agreement with US and British allies and with the Iraqi government.

Source: Xinhua