Last update - 00:00 25/07/2007
UN: Peacekeeper killed in south Lebanon cluster bomb explosion
By Yuval Azoulay, Haaretz Correspondent, the Associated Perss and Haaretz Service
A United Nations peacekeeper from France was killed Wednesday in an explosion of ordnance leftover from last summer's Second Lebanon War between Israel and Hezbollah guerrillas, a UN official said.
The incident occurred at 12:40 P.M. as a demining team from the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) was clearing unexploded shells between the villages of Shama and Tayrharfa, near the town of Naqoura close to the Lebanese border with Israel. One UN peacekeeper died when the leftover ordnance exploded, said Yasmina Bouziane, a UNIFIL spokeswoman.
She added that a medical team was sent to the explosion site and that UNIFIL had launched an investigation into the incident.
Earlier, the state-run National News Agency reported that the blast was caused by a cluster bomb explosion.
More than 30 people have been killed in cluster bombs or land mine explosions in Lebanon since last summer's 34-day war between Israel and Hezbollah guerrillas ended on August 14.
The United Nations and human rights groups say Israel dropped at least three million cluster bomblets during the war, and UN ordnance clearing experts say that up to one million failed to explode.
On Wednesday, the Winograd Commission, which set to release a report on the government and Israel Defense Forces' conduct during the Second Lebanon War said it would include an examination of claims that the IDF committed war crimes during last summer's fighting.
The main accusations focus on the use of cluster bombs. For more on this development, click here.