A Year In Beirut
By Tom Felle
In Beirut
SIX UN peacekeepers were killed last night in a roadside bomb attack in South Lebanon.
The six were all serving with the Spanish battalion, included three Colombians and three Spanish. At least four others were killed in the attack.
They were killed when the armoured personnel carrier (APC) they were travelling in drove over a device as they were on a routine patrol close to the “Blue Line,” the volatile border that divides Israel and Lebanon.
A group of Irish soldiers were first on the scene and raised the alarm after the blast shortly after 4pm (Irish time).
Irish soldiers attempted to rescue some of the injured and administer first aid, but were unable reach all the injured because the APC caught fire and ammunition inside it exploded. Irish soldiers transported one of the injured to hospital.
The bomb went off close the village of Khiam, where Irish troops are building a monument to four other UN peacekeepers killed in last summer’s war between Israel and Hezbollah.
The deadly blast comes after weeks of warnings by al Qaeda linked Islamic groups that they would attack the UN.
No group claimed responsibility but a senior UN source confirmed last night they believe the bomb “had all the hallmarks of a roadside bomb” specifically targeting UN troops.
Witnesses said that fireballs shot up into the sky when the bomb went off. The large blast caused the heavily armoured vehicle to burst into flames.
Ammunition inside the APC is also believed to have exploded, making it impossible for rescuers to get to the injured.
Initially there were reports that the soldiers were killed when the APC drove over a land mine, or some other unexploded ordinance, a left over from the country’s civil war era.
A spokeswoman for UNIFIL, the UN Interim Force in Lebanon, said a UN investigation was launched to find out what caused the explosion.
“A suspected explosive device caused the incident. Casualties were immediately evacuated and are being treated,” she said.
Some 1,200 Spanish troops are serving with the UN in South Lebanon as part of a 15,000 strong multinational force in the region. They arrived last November following last year’s war between Israel and Hezbollah.
UN troops across the region are on high alert and have increased security following the incident.
Lebanon has been racked by violence for two months, with more than 200 people killed so far in a series of incidents.
The Lebanese army in engaged in a five week bloody stand-off with radical al Qaeda linked Islamic militants at a Palestinian refugee camp in the North of the country.
A series of bomb attacks in the capital Beirut have so far left 20 dead, including a prominent anti-Syrian MP.
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An unidentified Irish soldier drags an injured Spanish colleague from the scene.
Dé Luain 25 Meitheamh 2007
Six UN peacekeepers killed in roadside bomb attack
