Two Sri Lankan UN peacekeepers in Lebanon have sustained minor injuries after a nearby village was targeted by an Israeli airstrike, the Sri Lanka Military said.
Army Spokesman Major General Rasika Kumara told Newswire that the two Sri Lankan Soldiers had been at a United Nations Base in Naqoura village, at the time of the incident.
He said the airstrikes had struck the village close to the base during which shrapnel had hit the two Sri Lankan Soldiers who were taking cover in a nearby bunker.
Stating that the soldiers had sustained minor injuries, the Army Spokesman said that they were being treated at the hospital in the UN base.
Meanwhile, issuing a statement on the attack, the United Nations Office said the UN Interim Force in Lebanon’s (UNFIL) Naqoura headquarters and nearby positions were repeatedly hit.
“This morning, two peacekeepers were injured after an IDF Merkava tank fired its weapon toward an observation tower at UNIFIL’s headquarters in Naqoura, directly hitting it and causing them to fall. The injuries are fortunately, this time, not serious, but they remain in hospital,” the UN mission statement said.
UN peacekeepers are present in south Lebanon to support a return to stability under a 2006 Security Council mandate. Any deliberate attack on peacekeepers is a grave violation of international humanitarian law and of Security Council resolution 1701, according to UNIFIL. (Newswire)