Italy on Tuesday marked the 16th anniversary of the 2003 attack on an Italian base in Nassiriya, southern Iraq, in which 19 Italians died.
The suicide attack killed 28 people, including the 19 Italians - 12 Carabinieri officers, five soldiers and two civilians.
It was the deadliest attack on Italian military personnel since World War Two President Sergio Mattarella said on Tuesday, the day commemorating military personnel and civilians who have fallen while serving in international missions, that their example is morally binding for Italy.
"The example set by our fallen represents a moral duty for the continuity of our country's role in different environments: women and men present in different conflict areas know they can count on the united support of the Italian people", the president said in a message to Defense Minister Lorenzo Guerini.
Meanwhile five Italian military personnel who were wounded in an ISIS attack in Iraq Sunday, including three seriously, remained in "stable condition" on Tuesday.
The soldiers were wounded in a roadside blast in northern Iraq as they were returning from a mission aimed at helping Iraqi Kurdish troops fight the Islamic State group.
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