UN peacekeepers killed by Israeli bomb

An Israeli bomb destroyed a United Nations observer post on the border in southern Lebanon, today, killing four peacekeepers.

The dead included observers from Austria, Canada, China and Finland, a senior Lebanese military official said.

The bomb made a direct hit on the building and shelter of the observer post in the town of Khiyam near the eastern end of the border with Israel, said Milos Struger, spokesman for the UN peacekeeping force in Lebanon known as Unifil.

Rescue workers were trying to clear the rubble, but Israeli firing “continued even during the rescue operation”, Struger said.

A UN official in New York said four people were killed. He spoke anonymously because the information had not been formally released.

The UN’s US ambassador, John Bolton, said the UN Security Council was informed hat four officers with the UN mission were killed, but he had no other information.

In Rome, UN secretary general Kofi Annan was asked about the attack as he rushed out of a hotel following a dinner with US secretary of state Condoleezza Rice and Lebanese prime minister Fuad Saniora. “I’m trying to get the details,” he said.

Since Israel launched a massive military offensive against Lebanon and Hezbollah guerrillas July 12, an international civilian employee working with Unifil and his wife have been killed in the crossfire between Israeli forces and Hezbollah guerrillas in the southern port city of Tyre.

Five Unifil soldiers and one military observer had also been wounded, Struger said.