Italian president pays homage to Gulshan attack victims

Italian President Sergio Mattarella paid tribute to the victims of the Gulshan cafe attack after the coffins arrived at Rome on Tuesday.

The Minister of Foreign Affairs Paolo Gentiloni assisted the Italian President Sergio Mattarella, at Ciampino military airport.

“Together with President Mattarella and on behalf of the government I have committed to assure that the legal benefits for the victims of terrorism apply to our fellow-citizens killed abroad. It is a dutiful commitment in episodes like the Dhaka massacre,” said Foreign Minister Paolo Gentiloni.

The bodies of nine Italians killed by Islamist militants who stormed an upmarket restaurant in the Bangladeshi capital last week were brought to Rome in a military plane.

A coffin containing the body of one of the nine Italians killed in the Bangladesh attack is carried by pallbearers as it is disembarked from an Italian airplane at Ciampino military airbase, south of Rome, Italy, July 5, 2016. Photo: REUTERS

Most of the 20 victims of the attack, which started late on Friday night, were foreigners - from Japan, India and the United States as well as Italy.

Italian President Sergio Mattarella cut short a visit to Latin America after the attack and returned to Rome.

Nine coffins, draped in the Italian flag, were lowered from the plane and white-robed priests sprinkled them with Catholic holy water as the victims’ families looked on.