Naharnet Newsdesk - Typhoon Winds Blow Over South: UNIFIL Bombed, Israel Rocketed

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Typhoon Winds Blow Over South: UNIFIL Bombed, Israel Rocketed
South Lebanon appeared heading to the Typhoon's eye Tuesday with two U.N. peacekeepers wounded in a roadside bomb targeting their vehicle, a few hours after two Katyusha rockets were fired from the U.N.-policed area into northern Israel.
The roadside bomb exploded as the U.N. SUV vehicle drove past the Rmaileh coastal town, just north of Sidon, the provincial capital of south Lebanon.

Two soldiers serving with the Irish Contingent of the U.N. Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) were slightly wounded by glass shrapnel and evacuated to Sidon's Hammoud hospital for treatment, a Police source told Naharnet.

The bomb, which was apparently detonated by remote control, went off seconds after the UNIFIL vehicle passed it, inflicting damage on the rear of the car, the source said.

The blast was the third such attack against UNIFIL in south Lebanon since it was reinforced to man a demilitarized zone south of the Litani River following the 34-day war between Hizbullah and Israel in the summer of 2006.

A vehicle operated by UNIFIL's Tanzanian contingent was attacked by a roadside bomb in south Lebanon last July, no casualties were reported.

Six peacekeepers serving with UNIFIL's Spanish Contingent were killed in a car bomb explosion that targeted their vehicle in south Lebanon last June.

The attack on UNIFIL came a few hours after two Katyusha rockets slammed into northern Israel that abuts Lebanon's U.N.-policed southern borders.

An Israeli police spokesman said "Two 107-mm Katyusha rockets were fired overnight into northern Israel."

Avi Edri, spokesman for the Israeli northern district police, said no casualties were reported and the rockets caused only minor damage to a house and a nearby street in the border town of Shlomi, but Defense Minister Ehud Barak called the incident "grave."

"We will learn what happened together with the army officers, we'll think and decide how to act," Barak was quoted as saying by the Haaretz daily.

The firings were not reported until hours later because the residents of the town thought the noise from the explosions was thunder, Shlomi mayor Gabi Naama told army radio.

"The rockets fell around 2:00 am (midnight GMT) and were fired from southern Lebanon," he said.

A Hizbullah official said the group "had no information on this subject."

UNIFIL said its experts were investigating the attack.

"UNIFIL is in the process of ascertaining the facts. We have our team on the ground. In the meantime, we cannot confirm or deny this report," spokeswoman Yasmina Buziane said.

The last time rockets were fired into northern Israel from Lebanon was on June 17, 2007, when two projectiles hit an industrial zone in the border town of Kiryat Shmona without causing casualties.

At the time Hizbullah denied having fired any projectiles and Israeli defense officials said they believed the rockets were launched by a Palestinian group in Lebanon, without naming an organization. No group ever claimed responsibility for the launchings.

The Israeli army early on Tuesday released into UNIFIL custody a Lebanese shepherd whom they arrested the previous day, Lebanese police said. The army had said that the man had been detained after crossing into Israeli territory.

Also on Tuesday, the leader of an Al-Qaida inspired militia warned that a deadly 15-week battle that it fought with Lebanese troops at a refugee camp in northern Lebanon last year was only the beginning.

"Our message to the crusaders is to expect the worst. This battle was only the beginning and we will prevail," said the audio message attributed to Fatah al-Islam's Palestinian chief Shaker al-Abssi.

The message also said that the group aims at "hoisting the banner of Islam in the Levant", singling out Syria, Lebanon, the Palestinian territories and Jordan.

Beirut, 08 Jan 08, 17:31


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