U.N. Force Vows To Pursue Lebanon Role Despite Bomb

By Yara Bayoumy

MARJAYOUN, Lebanon - U.N. peacekeepers will pursue their mission in south Lebanon despite a car bomb that killed six members of a Spanish battalion, their commander said on Monday.

The attack on a Spanish patrol on Sunday was the first deadly assault on the U.N. Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) since last year's war between Israel and Lebanese Shi'ite Hezbollah guerrillas backed by Iran and Syria.

"This attack has made UNIFIL more committed to fulfill its mission in southern Lebanon," said Major-General Claudio Graziano, commander of the 13,000-strong force.

The bombing presents another challenge to the Western-backed Beirut government, locked in a paralyzing political conflict with the Hezbollah-led opposition and shaken by a series of bombings, as well as battles with al Qaeda-inspired militants.

The bombing, which Hezbollah condemned, occurred even though UNIFIL had gone on higher alert after the Lebanese army began fighting Sunni Islamist militants in the north last month.

No group has claimed responsibility, but the Fatah al-Islam group battling the army in the Palestinian refugee camp of Nahr al-Bared had threatened UNIFIL earlier this month.

UNIFIL, operating alongside about 15,000 Lebanese troops sent to the south after the July-August war ended, has reported few problems with Hezbollah, which keeps its arms out of sight.

It has seen Sunni militants as a greater peril since al Qaeda number two Ayman al-Zawahri threatened attacks last year.

ALARM BELLS FOR UNIFIL 

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