An Italian military transport plane, which is heading for Kuwait City, is carrying 15 tons of high-protein biscuits, 18 tons of medicines along with electricity generators and pumps to ensure supplies of drinking water.

Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini announced Wednesday that an interministerial task force has been set up to coordinate aid and to provide "timely and efficient" support to war-stricken Iraqis.

"This aid must not be subjected to military conditions," he stressed.

Frattini said Thursday that he was convinced Italy would have a role in post-war humanitarian peace-keeping and relief efforts in Iraq.

Speaking in Rome on the sidelines of a forum of European and North African countries, Frattini said he could not personally promise that Carabinieri police peace-keeping units would be sent to Iraq but would do his bit to convince the Cabinet.

(Xinhua News Agency April 11, 2003)