Lebanese army soldiers stand guard next to a destroyed Italian UN peacekeeper vehicle that was struck by the roadside bombThe Italian government is not going to be happy with this turn of events in which a United Nations peacekeeping convoy in southern Lebanon was hit by a roadside bomb that has injured at least six Italians. The details are sketchy but this is what I found over at The Telegraph:
Six Italian peacekeepers have been wounded in a bomb attack targeting a UN patrol in south Lebanon, according to officials.
The explosion occurred on a busy highway leading to Sidon. A spokesman for the UN peacekeeping force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) said the bomb had been aimed at a logistics convoy.
"We have reports of casualties of UNIFIL peacekeepers," a spokesman said.
The explosion happened on the UN's International Day of United Nations Peacekeepers, when peacekeepers killed in missions across the world are commemorated by their colleagues.
I doubt that we will see Hezbollah take credit for this as they are too intent as coming off as the legitimate government of Lebanon at the time being but I can't think of anyone else that would have a vested interest in trying to signal to the U.N. peacekeepers to keep their asses out of southern Lebanon.
The fact of the matter is that usually these U.N. personnel look the other way and let Hezbollah do anything they damn well please but someone must have gotten pissed off here along the way.
Italian UN peacekeepers targeted by Lebanon bomb
Six Italian peacekeepers have been wounded in a bomb attack targeting a UN patrol in south Lebanon, according to officials.
The explosion occurred on a busy highway leading to Sidon. A spokesman for the UN peacekeeping force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) said the bomb had been aimed at a logistics convoy.
"We have reports of casualties of UNIFIL peacekeepers," a spokesman said.
The explosion happened on the UN's International Day of United Nations Peacekeepers, when peacekeepers killed in missions across the world are commemorated by their colleagues.
UNIFIL has about 12,000 troops and naval personnel in Lebanon after its expansion under a UN Security Council resolution that halted the 2006 Israel-Hizbollah war in southern Lebanon.
A car bomb killed six UN peacekeepers in Lebanon in June 2007.
An Italian defence ministry spokesman in Rome said: "I can confirm the attack but as the rescue is still under way I do not have a very clear idea of the situation. In principle we have one fallen and one gravely injured."
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