UN peacekeepers launch probe into blast in southern Lebanon

UNITED NATIONS, Dec. 17 — The UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) has launched an investigation into a blast which shook a village in southern Lebanon Monday morning, UN spokesman Martin Nesirky told reporters here.

“At around 7 a.m. on Monday, an explosion took place in the vicinity of the village of Tayr Harfa in southern Lebanon,” Nesirky said at a daily news briefing. “Troops from the UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL), in close coordination with the Lebanese Armed Forces, have launched an investigation to identify the precise nature and circumstances of that explosion.”

According to Lebanon’s National News Agency, the blast, which only caused material damage, occurred in an abandoned henhouse used as a storage facility for arms and ammunition. Other media reports said that the target, only 200 meters away from residential buildings, was a suspected Hezbollah munition depot.

Tayr Harfa Mayor Hussein Qassem Haidar said that the explosion was caused by a rocket left over from the last war between Israel and Hezbollah in 2006, while urging areas to be cleared of ” cluster bombs” so that the areas could be utilized as agricultural land.