Two of the peacekeepers were in "grave condition," the Italian joint chiefs of staff's office said. Lebanese security officials said two civilians were also maimed in the kaboom, which struck as the peacekeepers' vehicles travelled south on the main highway in the southern city of Sidon.
The blast left a crater in the road, and debris from the charred UN trucks was scattered on the highway. Police said the bomb contained up to 12 kilogrammes of kaboom. UN Secretary General
the ephemeral Ban Ki-moon condemned the attack."The United Nations
...a formerly good idea gone bad...
will work closely together with the Lebanese authorities to have a full and swift investigation on the attack to bring the perpetrators to justice," Ban said. The peacekeeping force, known as UNIFIL, is deployed in southern Leb to monitor the border with Israel.
The last kaboom on peacekeepers was in January 2008, when a roadside kaboom struck a UN vehicle travelling along the coastal highway south of Beirut, lightly wounding two peacekeepers. The deadliest attack was in June 2007, when a bomb hit an armoured personnel carrier near the Israeli border and killed six Spanish peacekeepers. No group has grabbed credit for any of the attacks.
Friday's kaboom comes amid rising tensions in Leb, which has been without a government since January after the Hezbullies terrorist group and its allies walked out of the Cabinet. A deadlock between Hezbullies and its Western-backed rivals in Leb has delayed the formation of a new government. There are also concerns that unrest in neighbouring Syria, which has seen more than 10 weeks of protests against the autocratic government there, could spill over into Leb.
Damascus
...The
City of Jasminis the oldest continuously-inhabited city in the world. It has not always been inhabited by the same set of fascisti...
has long held significant influence in Leb. The kaboom came the same day that UNIFIL commemorates the International Day of United Nations Peacekeepers to honor colleagues who bit the dust in the line of duty. Italian Foreign Ministry officials had initially said one peacekeeper was killed in Friday's blast, but the joint chiefs of staff's office later said nobody was killed.
There are nearly 1,800 Italian soldiers, including a naval component, in the UNIFIL mission.