Premier Romano Prodi said Tuesday that this week's attack on an Italian military patrol in southern Iraq that killed one soldier and wounded four others would not hasten Italy's withdrawal from the country.

Italian Premier Romano Prodi, right, flanked by Defense Minister Arturo Parisi delivers his speech at the Lower Chamber in Rome, Tuesday, June 6, 2006. Premier Romano Prodi said Tuesday that this week's attack on an Italian military convoy that left a soldier dead and four wounded would not affect Italy's pullout plans. [AP]

Prodi said the government was in the process of working out the timing and manner of the withdrawal of its 2,700 troops with allies and Iraqi authorities.

"Nothing changes regarding the pullout plans of our soldiers," Prodi told Parliament. "Yesterday's attack won't have any repercussions on the timetable, which is being defined."

Extreme leftist coalition allies, however, insisted that Italy's troops should be withdrawn immediately.

"What are we waiting for to pull out our troops?" said Oliviero Diliberto, leader of a communist party in Prodi's coalition. "It's only a question of giving the political go-ahead."

The Italian Joint Task Force said that a military vehicle, escorting a British convoy about 60 miles north of Nasiriyah, was hit by an explosive device, wounding all five soldiers in the vehicle, one of whom died shortly after.

The death raised to 32 the number of Italian personnel killed in Iraq during the military deployment, which includes the paramilitary police. The toll includes four dead in a roadside blast in April, in Nasiriyah.

Prodi, who took office last month after winning April elections, has called the Iraq war a "grave error" and vowed to withdraw the troops. His center-left government has said it will stick to a plan by former Premier Silvio Berlusconi to reduce the number to 1,600 sometime this month.

The Italian troops were sent in by Berlusconi, a strong U.S. ally, to help rebuild Iraq after the 2003 ouster of Saddam Hussein.