An Italian army helicopter crashed in Iraq on Tuesday, killing all four soldiers on board.
The Italian military believe a sandstorm caused the The AB-412 helicopter to crash near the southern city of Nassiriya as it was returning to base after a trip to Kuwait City.
Rome said the crash would not alter its commitment to Iraq, where it has some 3,000 troops, the fourth-largest foreign contingent after those of the United States, Britain and South Korea.
The bodies of the two machine-gunners and two pilots, aged between 29 and 39, were recovered from the wreckage.
"In all likelihood, the pilot was put into difficulty by a sandstorm," said General Giangiacomo Calligaris, commander of the helicopter's air brigade. But he said a full investigation was needed to discover the cause of the crash.
"The helicopter practically disintegrated so it is difficult to reconstruct exactly what happened. It's going to take a few days to work things out," he said.
An Iraqi Air Force plane crashed northeast of Baghdad in a sandstorm on Monday, killing four US Air Force personnel and an Iraqi pilot. The Italian crash brings to 32 the number of Italians killed in Iraq over the past two years - 25 military, six civilians and secret service agent Nicola Calipari, who was shot at a US checkpoint in March as he escorted a hostage to freedom.
Meanwhile, Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf said he authorised the hand-over of a top al Qaeda suspect to the United States.
Pakistan announced in early May it had captured Abu Faraj Farj al Liby, who US counter-terrorism agents say became al Qaeda's third-most important figure two years ago.
"We had decided that having gathered all the information, interrogated him, we don't want him in Pakistan," Mr Musharraf said on CNN television.