BEIRUT: An Irish soldier on a United Nations (UN) peacekeeping mission in Lebanon was killed when a convoy of two armoured vehicles came under fire in the southern part of the country.
The UN Interim Forces in Lebanon (UNIFIL) said on Thursday a peacekeeper was killed and three others were injured the night before.
“At the moment, details are sparse and conflicting,” said UNIFIL, adding that an investigation is underway to determine what happened, the German Press Agency (dpa) reported.
Ireland’s armed forces said Wednesday that two vehicles were travelling to Beirut carrying eight personnel when they came under small arms fire.
Four personnel were taken to a hospital near the southern port city of Sidon. One of them was pronounced dead on arrival, it added.
UNIFIL is one of the UN’s oldest peacekeeping missions, started in March 1978 to maintain a truce between Israel and Lebanon. It has more than 10,000 peacekeepers coming from 48 countries.
“We’re all deeply shocked and very saddened at the loss of life in the Lebanon of one of our peacekeepers and another injured.
“It reminds us of the extraordinary sacrifice that our peacekeepers make on a constant basis,” Irish Prime Minister Micheál Martin said at an EU summit in Brussels. – BERNAMA
