Italy held a state funeral today for six soldiers killed by a suicide bomber in Afghanistan last week amid growing calls for a withdrawal of troops from the country.
The attack on Thursday was the worst on Italians in Afghanistan, reigniting the debate over its peacekeeping mission in the region and prompting a key government ally to call for all troops to be brought home by Christmas.
"We sent them there and they've returned dead," said Umberto Bossi, head of the Northern League party which is a junior ally in the conservative government, as he arrived for the funeral.
Thousands of Italians braved the rain to wave flags and applaud during the funeral procession through Rome while some shops shuttered their windows in a sign of respect.
Top government officials including Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi and President Giorgio Napolitano attended the mass at St Paul's basilica, where the funeral for 19 Italian soldiers killed in Nassiriya in 2003 was also held.
The funeral - shown live on all major Italian television networks - began with a telegram from Pope Benedict expressing his "deep sadness". Some openly wept when the coffins blanketed with the Italian flag were brought in.
Tributes to the soldiers have poured in from relatives, politicians and fellow soliders in recent days and one pollster has warned the latest casualities threaten to hit support for Italy's role in Afghanistan.
Photos of the two-year old son of one dead soldier wearing his father's red beret were splashed across the front page of all major dailies, which recounted that the boy said "Ciao papa" to welcome the coffins that arrived in Rome yesterday.
Reuters