“There have been warnings that the peacekeepers could come under terror attacks, particularly from al-Qaida and its sympathizers. Media reports earlier this month said interrogations by Lebanese authorities with captured militants revealed plots to attack the force.”
“Lebanon bomb kills 4 U.N. peacekeepers,” by Sam F. Ghattas for the Associated Press:
BEIRUT, Lebanon – A bomb apparently targeting U.N. peacekeepers exploded by the side of a road in southern Lebanon on Sunday, killing four Spanish troops and injuring at
least four, a senior Lebanese security official said.
The senior official in Beirut said a mine may have caused the explosion, but another security official based in southern Lebanon said a bomb detonated at the side of a road about four miles north of the Israeli border town of Metulla. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media.
The U.N. Interim Force in Lebanon, known as UNIFIL, confirmed the explosion and said there were casualties but gave no details.
In Madrid, the Spanish Defense Ministry confirmed at least two Spanish
peacekeepers were killed and five injured.
Sunday’s deadly explosion was the first time that UNIFIL has come under attack
since it was reinforced last summer after the war between Hezbollah guerrillas and Israeli forces in Lebanon. The 13,000-member U.N. force from 30 countries along with 15,000 Lebanese troops patrols a zone along Lebanese-Israeli border.
In a statement on its television station Al-Manar, Hezbollah denounced the
attack, calling it a “suspicious act.” The militant [group] has had good relations with UNIFIL since the troops were first deployed in Lebanon in 1978.
There have been warnings that the peacekeepers could come under terror attacks, particularly from al-Qaida and its sympathizers. Media reports earlier this month said
interrogations by Lebanese authorities with captured militants revealed plots to attack the
force.