Indonesia receives bodies of peacekeepers killed in Lebanon

JAKARTA: Indonesia received the bodies of three peacekeeprs Saturday that were killed on deployment in Lebanon as it branded an explosion that injured three other of its blue helmets as "unacceptable".

The United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) said three peacekeepers were wounded in a blast that occurred inside a UN facility near El Adeisse on Friday afternoon, and rushed to hospital.

Two were seriously wounded.

The UN Information Centre in Jakarta said the "origin of the explosion" was unknown but identified the injured soldiers as Indonesian.

"Repeated attacks or incidents of this kind are unacceptable," the Indonesian foreign ministry said in a statement.

"Regardless of their cause, these events underscore the urgent need to strengthen protection for UN peacekeeping forces amid an increasingly dangerous conflict situation."

The government urged the UN Security Council to investigate the events and "to immediately convene a meeting of troop-contributing countries to UNIFIL to conduct a review and take measures to enhance the protection of personnel serving with UNIFIL".

Friday's incident came just days after an Indonesian peacekeeper died when a projectile exploded on March 29 in southern Lebanon, where Israel and Hezbollah have been fighting since Lebanon was drawn into the Middle East war.

A UN security source told AFP on condition of anonymity Tuesday that fire from an Israeli tank was responsible for that attack.

A day later, two more Indonesian peacekeepers died after an explosion struck a UNIFIL logistics convoy, also in southern Lebanon.

The bodies of the three men arrived in Jakarta on Saturday.

'Not deployed for war'

The soldiers' coffins, draped in the Indonesian flag, were carried into a hall at the international airport on the shoulders of uniformed comrades for a ceremony attended by President Prabowo Subianto.

Family members of the men wept over the coffins, each fronted by a photograph of the dead soldier in a gold frame.

Prabowo saluted each portrait and held the hands of grieving loved ones, some weeping unconsolably.

The father of one of the two fallen soldiers, 33-year-old Zulmi Aditya Iskandar, said this week he was shocked that peacekeepers were losing their lives in the conflict.

"We were really sad and regretful, because this is a UN troop, a peacekeeping troop, not deployed for war," 60-year-old Iskandarudin told reporters at his house in West Java province.

The military has promised financial support for the bereaved families.

After the latest attack that injured three more soldiers, Armed Forces Commander General Agus Subiyanto ordered Indonesian peacekeepers in Lebanon to enter bunkers and refrain from activities outside.

The Indonesian National Armed Forces has said it will deploy more than 750 personnel to Lebanon next month as part of the scheduled UNIFIL peacekeeping troop rotation.