Blast Targets French UNIFIL Patrol in Tyre, 7 Injured
Five French soldiers and two civilians were wounded on Friday by a powerful roadside bomb that targeted a UNIFIL patrol in the southern coastal city of Tyre, a spokesperson and media reports said.
UNIFIL spokesman Andrea Tenenti said the 5 peacekeepers were injured when an explosion targeted their patrol in an area south of Tyre around 9:30 am. He did not specify to which contingent they belonged to.
But Tenenti said UNIFIL investigators are currently working with their counterparts in the Lebanese army to determine the facts behind the incident.
The injured were rushed to nearby hospitals.
Voice of Lebanon radio (93.3) reported that two civilians were also wounded in the explosion.
The explosives were placed in a garbage bin in the area of al-Nabaa on the road that leads to Burj al-Shamali in Tyre, it said.
But a security official told Agence France Presse that the bomb was hidden under dirt on the side of the road and detonated as the soldiers were driving by in a four-wheeler.
The blast left a one-meter deep crater and caused damages to nearby houses.
Security forces cordoned off the area as hundreds of onlookers gathered nearby.
A French U.N. patrol was attacked on July 26 and Italian peacekeepers were targeted on May 27.
UNIFIL Force Commander Major-General Alberto Asarta Cuevas denounced the attack but vowed it would not deter his troops from fulfilling their mandate.
"This vile and despicable act not only aims to cause harm to the peacekeepers but also to undermine the stability and peace that have been prevailing in the south," he said in a statement.
"We will not be diverted from our tasks and we remain focused in our efforts to fulfill our mandate together with the Lebanese Armed Forces," he added.
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