April 18 (Reuters) – A United Nations peacekeeper was killed and three others wounded after a UNIFIL patrol came under small-arms fire while clearing explosive ordnance along a road in the southern Lebanese village of Ghandouriyeh, the peacekeeping mission said on Saturday.
Two of the wounded peacekeepers were seriously injured, it said.
UNIFIL said initial assessments indicated the fire came from non-state actors, allegedly Hezbollah, and that an investigation had been launched into what it described as “a deliberate attack.”
France’s President Emmanuel Macron said earlier a French soldier serving with the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) had been killed in the attack and blamed Iran-backed armed group Hezbollah, urging Lebanese authorities to act against those responsible.
Lebanon’s army condemned the shooting and said it had opened an investigation, while President Joseph Aoun offered condolences over the killing and ordered an immediate probe. Prime Minister Nawaf Salam also condemned the attack.
UNIFIL first deployed in 1978 and has remained through successive conflicts, including a 2024 war during which its positions came under fire repeatedly.
(Reporting by Enas Alashray in Cairo, Tassilo Hummel in Paris and Olivia Le Poidevin in Geneva; Editing by Emelia Sithole-Matarise)
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