Lebanon bombing kills 6 U.N. troops

TRIPOLI, LEBANON —  A bomb ripped through a United Nations convoy in southern Lebanon on Sunday, killing six peacekeepers under Spanish command.

The attack, which took place on a day when the Lebanese military fought a bloody battle against Sunni Muslim radicals in the north, heightened fears that a second front may have opened in the fight here against militants linked to Al Qaeda.

The attacks on opposite ends of the country could stretch the Lebanese army further and weaken a country already beset by sectarian tension, political stalemate and a worsening economic crisis.

The Lebanese army is locked in a monthlong battle against a group of Sunni militants holed up in a Palestinian refugee camp north of Tripoli, where Sunday’s gun battle took place.

“The arena for conflict has moved to the south; this is very worrisome,” said Amal Saad-Ghorayeb, a visiting scholar at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.

The peacekeepers from the U.N. Interim Force in Lebanon, three Spaniards and three Colombians, were patrolling a predominantly Christian area of villages and olive groves near the borders with Israel and Syria when the bomb detonated about 5:30 p.m., U.N. officials said.

The bomb, which burned one personnel carrier and severely damaged another vehicle, probably was detonated by remote control, Spanish Defense Minister Jose Antonio Alonso said at a news conference in Madrid. It exploded on a paved road frequently used by UNIFIL convoys traveling between Khiam and Marjayoun, near the peacekeepers’ base, the Miguel de Cervantes camp.

“Without a doubt, we are dealing with a premeditated attack,” Alonso said. “In the last few weeks, there have been many incidents which have destabilized Lebanon. We were on high alert, and we had stepped up security.”

Maj. Gen. Claudio Graziano, the commander of U.N. troops in Lebanon, said the attackers “were not only targeting UNIFIL but peace and security in the area.... At this difficult moment I want to stress that all UNIFIL troops remain committed more than ever to its mission and resolve to implement the tasks mandated by the Security Council.”

U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, who was in Paris to meet with French and Lebanese officials including Prime Minister Fouad Siniora, denounced the attack.

“The UNIFIL mission has been very important in helping to bring about an end to the Lebanon war of last summer and helping to bring security so that the people of Lebanon could return to normal life,” Rice said, according to the Associated Press.

Anti-Syrian politicians described the attack as part of a campaign to intimidate and destabilize the country, which has suffered numerous assassinations of intellectuals and political leaders.

Lawmaker Saad Hariri, whose father, former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, was assassinated in 2005, called the attack “a dangerous terrorist act that targets the security of the whole country and not only the U.N. peacekeeping forces.”

The militant group Hezbollah also denounced the bombing, describing it in a statement as “a suspicious act that harms the people of the south and the Lebanese” in general.

The Shiite Muslim group has never been known to attack UNIFIL troops and has enjoyed good relations with the peacekeepers in the south.

“This is definitely not Hezbollah’s style, and it’s not in their interest,” Saad-Ghorayeb said. “The first culprit that comes to mind is Al Qaeda.”

Lebanese investigators recently announced that captured members of the Al Qaeda-inspired group Fatah al Islam, who are fighting the Lebanese army at the northern refugee camp, said during interrogation that they were planning attacks against UNIFIL troops, embassies and high-profile hotels.

The fight against the group at the Nahr el Bared camp has left at least 150 dead, including 80 soldiers, making it the bloodiest internal clash since the end of the 15-year civil war in 1990. There are no reliable figures for civilian casualties because the camp has been closed off to aid workers and journalists.

UNIFIL troops first came to Lebanon in 1978 after an Israeli invasion of the south. After last summer’s 34-day war between Hezbollah and Israel, the U.N. beefed up its presence in the area. Today, an estimated 1,100 Spaniards are part of the 13,000-strong U.N. force that patrols the Lebanese-Israeli border along with 15,000 Lebanese soldiers.

A Spanish team led by National Civil Guard Director Joan Mesquida will travel to Lebanon to investigate the attack.

Observers said it could increase pressure on European governments to withdraw their troops from Lebanon.

“It’s going to put UNIFIL in a very difficult position,” Saad-Ghorayeb said.

In Tripoli, the gun battle between militants and the Lebanese army began late Saturday as soldiers searched the area after receiving a tip about a hidden weapons cache.

At least 10 people were killed in the hours-long battle that followed with the Islamists, who barricaded themselves in an apartment in a modest, lightly populated neighborhood on the outskirts of the city. At least two civilians, a soldier and a police officer died in the fighting, military officials said.

On Sunday, the apartment appeared to have burned. Soldiers had cordoned off the area. A grocer, Mohammed Khayal, said he had seen the militants stocking up on food before the shootout. Soldiers searching the apartment afterward found large quantities of weapons, explosives, army uniforms and electronics, officials said.

roug@latimes.com

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Times staff writer Tracy Wilkinson in Madrid and special correspondent Raed Rafei in Beirut contributed to this report.