(10 Oct 2010) SHOTLIST
+++NIGHT SHOTS+++
1. Close-up of soldiers holding guns
2. Soldiers in front of aircraft
3. Soldiers and dignitaries lined up
4. Italian ambassador to Afghanistan Claudio Glaentzer (left with glasses) in line of dignitaries
5. Various of soldiers in silence
6. Four coffins are carried by soldiers
7. Various of coffins held by soldiers
8. Glaentzer watching as coffins are held by soldiers
9. Various of coffins being carried by soldiers
10. Glaentzer (left with glasses) with hand across his chest
11. Various of coffins being placed in aircraft
12. SOUNDBITE: (English) Claudio Glaentzer, Italian Ambassador to Afghanistan
"And Ambassador (inaudible) will tell you it was the supreme sacrifice that has been made by these four soldiers for the future of Afghanistan, let's be very frank. And also to have a better world."
13 Various of coffins on aircraft
STORYLINE
Italian soldiers based in the Afghanistan western province of Herat, held memorial ceremony on Sunday for their fallen comrades who were killed during a fire fight with insurgents in Farah province on Saturday.
Four Italian NATO soldiers were killed and another one was seriously wounded in a bomb blast on Saturday according to Afghan police officials.
The Italian army said the men were attacked in an ambush in the Gulistan Valley in the western province of Farah as they were returning from a mission.
A spokesman for Italy's Defence Ministry said the bomb exploded as a 70-vehicle convoy passed by insurgents, and then the soldiers came under small-arms fire.
The four deaths brought the number of Italian soldiers killed in Afghanistan to 34, of whom 21 have lost their lives in the past two years.
The soldiers who died on Saturday were members of the Alpini elite mountain troops, traditionally recruited among the highland areas of central and northern Italy.
So far this month 24 NATO soldiers have been killed in Afghanistan.
Italian Ambassador to Afghanistan Claudio Glaentzer said the soldiers had made the "supreme sacrifice".
Italy is one of the largest troop contributors to NATO's military operation in Afghanistan with 3,400 soldiers mainly based in the eastern province of Herat.
At least 2,012 NATO service members have died since the US-led invasion of Afghanistan on 7 October 2001, according to an Associated Press count.
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