A library photo for Italian troops in Iraq

ROME, March 7 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) – Four Italian pilots, who served among the Italian contingent in occupied Iraq, face a court martial for defying military orders by refusing to carry out assigned missions in the war-torn country.

The airmen, who joined the Italian contingent in southern Iraq, had only flown one mission last year and were then reluctant to go to the air again, an Italian military official told Reuters news agency.

Speaking on condition of anonymity, the official said the officers returned home in December 2003 to stand a court martial.

Italian press said that the airmen were afraid that their planes might be targeted by the relentless Iraqi resistance operations.

They were panicked by the rising number of U.S. helicopters shot down by resistance fire.

An Italian General, however, denied in statements carried by the official news agency Agenzia Nazionale Stampa Associata (ANSA) that the officers were stricken by fear.   

Italian daily Corriere della Sera reported Saturday, March 6, that Italian jet fighters in Iraq are not equipped with automatic anti-missile protection systems.

Resistance operations have brought down several U.S. helicopters since the invasion of Iraq last year.

In the last such incident, Iraqi fighters shot down a U.S. Kiowa reconnaissance helicopter which crashed in western Iraq on February 25, killing the two crew on board.  

In the deadliest incident, 17 U.S. soldiers were killed in November 2003 when two U.S. Black Hawk helicopters collided and crashed in the city of Mosul after coming under resistance fire.

Under an Italian military code, if four or five soldiers agreed to defy orders, they shall be tried on mutiny charges. If proved guilty, they shall serve from six months to three years in prison.

The 3,000-strong Italian contingent includes ground troops, pilots along with three naval ships and 40 Red Cross volunteers.

In November 2003, 19 Italians died in a resistance attack on a military police barracks.

Despite fierce opposition inside Italy, Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi said the Italian forces would remain in Iraq despite the attack.