In the wake of the recent attack in Nasiriyah, Patriarch Delly calls on people to pray for peace and remember all the victims, whatever their nationality, who die in Iraq's 'chaos'.

Baghdad (AsiaNews) – Chaldean Patriarch Emmanuel III Delly told AsiaNews that we should remember the "victims of every nationality, above all Iraqis", who are dying every day in the chaos that is engulfing the country. He made the remarks following a deadly attack just outside Nasiriyah that today left three Italian soldiers and one Romanian dead. It is not yet clear who is behind it.

The roadside blast occurred when a convoy from the international military coalition went by. One of the vehicles, an Italian armoured car, was hit. The convoy included four vehicles from the Carabinieri Regiment of the Multinational Specialised Unit.

"I love the Italians and I feel close to their pain at this moment, but the issue is not as clear cut," the patriarch said by phone from Baghdad. "Chaos here is total and I insist on reminding everyone that around the country people of every nationality are dying every day".

As he has done before, Cardinal Delly strongly urged everyone to pray. "I call on the entire world to pray. We have no other means to ask the Lord to bring us peace and tranquillity and take away all the evil that we experience every day".

As if more was needed to prove the patriarch's words, this morning Meysoun al-Hashemi, sister of one of Iraq' new vice presidents, Sunni leader Tarek al-Hashemi, was killed with her driver on the way to work in a drive-by shooting in the Hai al-Ilam neighbourhood in south-western Baghdad.

• iraq
• nasiriyah
• baghdad
• attack
• carabinieri
• meysoun
• al-hashemi
• attack
• murder
• drive-by
• shooting