Lebanon blast kills Unifil troops
Three Spanish and three Colombian peacekeepers killed in attack in the south.
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“The Palestinian refugees are not being treated properly by Lebanon” |
It was the first deadly attack on Unifil since last year’s Israel-Hezbollah war.
Spain has 1,100 troops serving in the 13,000-strong Unifil force.
There was no immediate claim for the attack.
Hezbollah, the Lebanese Shia opposition group, condemned the blast, saying on its al-Manar television channel: “The attack hurts the people of the south and of Lebanon.”
Lebanese politicians condemned the bombing, which Saad al-Hariri, Sunni leader of the ruling coalition government, described as “a grave terrorist attack”.
Fouad Siniora, the prime minister, called his Spanish counterpart to denounce the bombing. In Paris, Condoleezza Rice, the US secretary of state, joined the French foreign minister, Bernard Kouchner, in also condemning the attack.
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Spanish peacekeepers are part of the |
Sunday’s attack came just hours after Lebanese troops killed seven Islamist fighters in a raid on a block of flats in the northern city of Tripoli and as the Lebanese army continues to besiege fighters from Fatah al-Islam at a Palestinian refugee camp in north Lebanon.
Unifil was recently accused by Fatah al-Islam of bombing its positions at the Nahr al-Bared, near the city of Tripoli, on June 2.
Lebanese judicial sources said the fighters had threatened attacks on UN peacekeepers.
“During questioning, some members of Fatah al-Islam confessed that one of the main aims of their group was to carry out attacks on Unifil in southern Lebanon,” one source said.