Irish UN peacekeeping soldier killed in south Lebanon
A UNIFIL convoy came under attack Dec. 14 resulting in the death of an Irish soldier and the injury of three others.
BEIRUT — An Irish soldier on a United Nations peacekeeping mission in Lebanon was killed while a second is in critical condition after their armored vehicle came under rare attack, Irish defense minister Simon Coveney said on Thursday.
The soldiers were part of a convoy of Irish United Nations peacekeeping forces in south Lebanon (UNIFIL) that was attacked late Wednesday night. Two armored utility vehicles came under small arms fire. The vehicles were carrying eight soldiers traveling to Beirut, through the village of al-Aqbieh outside UNIFIL’s area of operations in south Lebanon.
Coveney said a hostile mob carried the attack while the soldiers were on a routine UNIFIL tour.
“The two armoured vehicles effectively got separated. One of them got surrounded by a hostile mob, I think that’s the only way you could describe them, and shots were fired. Unfortunately, one of our peacekeepers was killed,” Coveney told RTE, the Irish national television.
