China presses UN council to condemn Israeli attack

UNITED NATIONS, July 26: An angry China asked the UN Security Council today to condemn an Israeli attack on a UN observer post in southern Lebanon that killed four peacekeepers from Austria, Canada, China and Finland.

Chinese UN Ambassador Wang Guangya agreed even before formal deliberations began, however, to soften his draft text by deleting a call for an immediate end to the fighting in Lebanon and a reference to the ''apparently deliberate targeting'' of UN troops by Israeli forces.

The changes were made after Wang met privately with US Ambassador to the United Nations John Bolton, diplomats said.

Bolton said the US objective was ''to move quickly on this tragic incident and not get embroiled in larger questions'' such as whether there should be a cease-fire.

UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan called on Israel yesterday to investigate what he termed the ''apparently deliberate targeting'' of the UN observer post.

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said today he had spoken to Annan to express ''deep sorrow'' over the four deaths in Lebanon and to say he was ordering an investigation.

But he voiced shock at Annan's suggestion that the attack was deliberate.

Following a closed-door briefing on the attack by Jane Holl Lute, a deputy head of UN peacekeeping operations, council members hoped the 15-nation body would adopt a statement on Wednesday or Thursday.

The deaths raised questions about whether peacekeepers should remain in south Lebanon while the international community debates whether to send in new forces. France and others have suggested UNIFIL could help deliver aid or protect humanitarian workers.

Both the 2,000-soldier UN Interim Force in Lebanon and the 155-strong UN Truce Supervision Organization remain in the area despite intense fighting between Israel and Lebanon's Hizbollah militia.

21 'CLOSE FIRINGS' IN SIX HOURS

Wang's initial draft had referred to ''the apparently deliberate targeting'' of the UN post by Israel, reflecting the wording of a statement issued by UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan the evening before. The draft also called for ''an immediate cessation of hostilities on the ground so as to avoid further casualties and damages to the civilians.'' A later draft dropped both phrases.

Holl Lute told council members that the post ''came under recurrent incidents of close firing'' during the six-hour period before it was completely destroyed by an Israeli strike, according to a text of her remarks.

The UN peacekeeping mission said 21 strikes occurred within 300 meters of the patrol base, including 12 artillery rounds which fell within 100 meters, four of which scored direct hits on the base, she said.

''To our knowledge, unlike in the vicinity of some of our other patrol bases, Hizbollah firing was not taking place within the immediate vicinity of the patrol base,'' she said.

Throughout the day, UN officials had protested the close firings directly to the Israeli military and to the Israeli Mission to the United Nations in New York, Holl Lute said.

''Firing continued during the rescue operation, despite repeated requests to the Israeli Defense Forces for an abatement,'' she said.

To date, rescue workers had been able to recover the remains of just three of the four peacekeepers presumed killed in the attack, she said.

While UN posts have come under attack from both Hizbollah and Israel, Hizbollah attacks have consisted of small arms fire while Israeli close firings have come in the form of artillery and air strikes, she said.

REUTERS