Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi told Italian troops serving in southern Iraq their nation was proud of them when he made a surprise Easter visit to their base on Saturday.
Italian television showed footage of Berlusconi, dressed casually and wearing an Italian military cap, joking and having his picture taken with the troops at their base.
"Well done," Berlusconi told the troops. "I bring you a big hug from all of Italy. We are proud of you."
Berlusconi, who was due to return to Italy later in the day, ate with the troops in their mess and saw the building where 19 Italians were killed by a car bomb last November.
A staunch war ally of US President George W. Bush despite vocal domestic opposition, the conservative premier met Italy's commanding general and Barbara Contini, the interim governor of the Iraqi province of Dhi Qar, which includes Nassiriya.
"He received a briefing from the general, held talks with Contini and then met the troops," Paola della Casa, an official with the US-led Coalition Provisional Authority in the area, told Reuters.
Many Italians opposed the deployment and there have been demonstrations calling for the troops to be withdrawn.
In Rome, opposition politicians said Berlusconi should have gone to Iraq sooner and renewed their calls for the troops to come home.
Berlusconi said earlier this week the troops would stay: "It is unthinkable to flee the mission we have started. We would leave the country in chaos".
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