UN says initial findings show roadside blast killed Lebanon peacekeepers

March 31 (Reuters) – A roadside explosion appears to have struck the convoy of two Indonesian peacekeepers killed in southern Lebanon, the U.N. peacekeeping chief said on Tuesday, citing initial findings of an investigation.

The two peacekeepers with the UNIFIL force were killed on Monday near Bani Hayyan in south Lebanon and two other soldiers were wounded. Another Indonesian soldier was killed overnight Sunday into Monday when a projectile exploded near one of the group’s positions.

“UNIFIL is conducting investigations to determine the circumstances of these reprehensible developments,” Jean-Pierre Lacroix, the head of U.N. peacekeeping, told a U.N. Security Council meeting on Lebanon, where a new war between Israel and Lebanese armed group Hezbollah erupted on March 2.

Israel’s U.N. ambassador, Danny Danon, blamed the deaths of the three peacekeepers on Hezbollah. He charged that the group launches rockets from villages next to U.N. positions, “putting peacekeepers directly in the line of fire.”

Asked about Danon’s statement, UNIFIL spokesperson Kandice Ardiel said: “We invite them to share their evidence with our investigative team.”

U.N. spokesperson Stephane Dujarric told a briefing a “roadside bomb, most likely an IED,” or improvised explosive device, was to blame for the Bani Hayyan incident.

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres strongly condemned the killing of the peacekeepers, saying that such attacks were “grave violations of international humanitarian law… and may amount to war crimes.”

“There will need to be accountability,” he added in a statement.

Indonesia’s foreign ministry on Tuesday condemned the attacks “in the strongest terms”, adding that they reflected the deteriorating security environment in the region. It said that ongoing Israeli military operations have placed U.N. peacekeepers in Lebanon at grave risk.

U.S. envoy to the U.N. Mike Waltz told the Security Council meeting that since 1978, more than 300 UNIFIL peacekeepers had been killed, showing that the council “must think very carefully about the effectiveness of this effort.”

“We can help refocus international efforts on supporting Lebanese state institutions, reducing risk to peacekeepers, and pressing Hezbollah and Iran to cease their destabilizing activities,” he said.

In line with a Security Council decision, UNIFIL will cease operations at the end of 2026 and withdraw in 2027. As of March, UNIFIL had 7,505 peacekeepers from 47 nations.

(Reporting by David Brunnstrom; Additional reporting by Maya Gebeily in Beirut; Editing by David Ljunggren, Bill Berkrot and Cynthia Osterman)