Italicus part of 'neofascist terror season' - Mattarella

(ANSA) - ROME, AUG 4 - Italian President Sergio Mattarella on Sunday commemorated the 50th anniversary of the deadly Italicus train bombing, saying it was part of a neofascist terror season.
    "In the bloody chain of the terrorist season of the Italian far-right, of which the Italicus massacre is a significant part, its neofascist origin emerges, as stressed by a sentence of the Cassation Court and by the conclusions of the parliamentary inquiry commission on the P2 Lodge, although judicial proceedings did not lead to the effective conviction of those responsible", he said of the attack which killed 12 people in the Apennines between Florence and Bologna in 1974.
    The president went on to say that, "50 years ago, the terrorist strategy that aimed to destabilize the Republic targeted the Italicus train in San Benedetto Val di Sambro, sowing death and pain.
    "It was a train travelling to Germany, packed with travellers, many of whom were migrants going back to work.
    "Eleven passengers died in the fire that followed the explosion.
    "The 12th victim was a railwayman, Silver Sirotti, gold medal for civic value for his heroism: he lost his life while saving many others.
    "His generosity, together with his great courage, shows the undying values of humanity and solidarity that the assassins and their accomplices wanted to eradicate", the president stated, expressing solidarity to the victims' families and to the many who were injured in the attack.
    At 1:23 on the night of Sunday 4, 1974, a bomb exploded on the Rome-Munich train with 342 passengers on board, killing 12 people and wounding 48 others.
    The neofascist organization Ordine Nuovo (New Order) claimed responsibility for the bombing, but nobody was ever convicted for the attack over lack of evidence.
    The victims, aged 14 to 70, included three foreign tourists (a Dutch, an Austrian and a Japanese), the members of a family - a couple and their teen son - and the 25-year-old Silver Sirotti, who was the first to rush to the hit train carriage to help passengers and died amid the flames and smoke. (ANSA).