Lebanese soldiers defused a small bomb near a beach resort popular with UN peacekeepers in south Lebanon on Wednesday, security sources said.

They said two kgs of explosives equipped with a timer and primed to explode had been placed in a powder milk container near Tyre RestHouse on the Mediterranean.

UNIFIL peacekeepers deployed in south Lebanon to oversee a truce between Israel and Hezbollah often visit the resort.

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Islamist militants battling the Lebanese army at a Palestinian refugee camp in north Lebanon accused 13,000-strong UNIFIL last week of taking part in the shelling of the camp, a charge dismissed by the peacekeepers.

Four bombs, of 10-20 kgs of explosives each, have exploded in the Beirut area since the north Lebanon fighting began on May 20, killing one person and wounding dozens.