Italy ‘struck but not broken’

Italy is down but not out, Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi said in response to the Gulshan cafe attack that left nine Italian nationals among 20 dead.

READ HERE: Dhaka attack: 20 hostages killed Friday night, says ISPR

“Confronted with the madness of those who want to undo the Italian way of life, Italians have been struck but not broken,” Renzi said late Saturday, reports Politico, an Italian newspaper.

READ MORE: Gulshan Attack: 6 gunmen killed, 1 held, PM says

Earlier that day, six gunmen stormed the Holey Artisan Bakery in the diplomatic quarter of Dhaka and took hostages, mostly foreign nationals.

ALSO READ: Japan outraged over Gulshan cafe attack

Thirteen people were freed, but 20 were killed, including nine Italians, seven Japanese, one American and one Indian. Islamic State allegedly claimed responsibility for the attack.

READ HERE: Gulshan attack: Embassies alert citizens in Bangladesh

It’s the latest in a series of terrorist attacks around the world, Renzi said, mentioning the two Italians who were killed in the Bataclan concert hall in Paris and four at the Sousse resort in Tunisia last year.

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“Even if there are 8,000 kilometers between Tunis and Dhaka, between Tunisia and Bangladesh, the trail of blood is the same,” he said.

“The terrorists want to rip apart our daily lives. We have the responsibility to respond with even more resolve and determination in defense of our values,” Renzi said.

READ MORE: Nationalities of Holey Artisan victims disclosed

“Our values are stronger than their prejudice.”