Explosion hits UN convoy in Lebanon

Lebanese security sources say the blast occurred as an Italian patrol in the UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) was on a highway leading to the coastal city of Sidon on Friday, a Press TV correspondent reported.

Italian Defense Minister Ignazio La Russa said two peacekeepers were in grave condition.

“Of the two who were gravely wounded, one risks losing his eye while the other suffered a laceration of his carotid artery and has already been operated” on, La Russa told reporters in Milan.

An earlier report from Italian news agency ANSA citing defense ministry sources had said that one Italian soldier was killed in the blast.

Two civilians were also injured in the attack.

“This is a despicable act that is clearly directed at undermining UN Security Council resolution 1701 and stability in Lebanon,” said Neeraj Singh, a spokesman for the UNIFIL peacekeeping force.

He was referring to the resolution that ended the Israel’s 33-day war against the Lebanese resistance movement of Hezbollah in 2006, which killed more than 1,200 Lebanese, mostly civilians.

“UNIFIL’s forensics and investigation teams are at the location and are working in close cooperation with their counterparts in the Lebanese army to determine all the facts and circumstances surrounding the incident,” Singh added.

UNIFIL currently has 13,000 troops stationed in south Lebanon, with Italy holding the largest contingent.

The last attack against UNIFIL troops was in January 2008, when a roadside bomb struck a UN vehicle traveling along the coastal highway south of Beirut. Two peacekeepers were wounded in the blast.

The deadliest attack against UNIFIL was in June 2007, when six Spanish peacekeepers were killed after a bomb hit their convoy near the Israeli border.