Mortars fired by Hizbollah injured Indian Peacekeepers:Israel

New Delhi, Aug 3 (UNI) The two Indian soldiers of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon, (UNIFIL) who were injured in South Lebanon on July 29, were wounded by a mortar bomb that was fired by Hizbollah, the Israeli embassy here said today.

The embassy said Israeli Defence Forces had conducted an inquiry following the incident and it was found that the two Indian soldiers were injured in explosion of an 81 mm mortar bomb which was fired by Hizbollah.

A little later, Hizbollah fired a rocket which hit the surroundings of the UNIFIL post and exploded, the embassy said.

''An inquiry conducted by the Israeli Defence Forces following the incident determined that the two Indian soldiers were injured as a result of an explosion of an 81 mm mortar bomb which was fired by the Hizbollah. Minutes later a rocket launched by the Hizbollah hit the surroundings of the UNIFIL post and exploded,'' the embassy said in a statement.

India had condemned the incident and Israeli air strikes on UN peace-keeping troops deployed on the Israel-Lebanon border.

Earlier an Indian soldier had also been hurt, and four UN peace-keeping observers had been killed as a result of Israeli bombing.

''We demand that such targeting of UN peacekeepers is stopped forthwith,'' the External Affairs Ministry said on July 30.

The Israeli embassy statement said as part of the Hizbollah standard operating procedures, Katyusha rockets are commonly fired into Israeli territory from close proximity of UN positions (in addition to their being fired from within densely-populated rural areas).

Security perimeters around UN positions were established to prevent damage to the UN posts and injury to their personnel.

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