UN says Israel laid anti-personnel mines in Lebanon

GENEVA, Nov 28 (Reuters) The UN said today Israel used anti-personnel landmines, banned by most countries, as well as cluster bombs during its July-August war in Lebanon.

It said four deminers, two British and a Bosnian were seriously wounded, and a Lebanese expert slightly hurt, at the weekend when they stepped on mines.

Israel is not among the 152 countries that have ratified the 1997 Ottawa pact banning the use, stockpiling, production and transfer of anti-personnel landmines, which activists say kill and maim long after conflicts have ended.

But it is a party to a protocol of the 1980 Convention on Conventional Weapons, which requires they be placed within a demarcated area to ensure that civilians are not harmed.

The incidents near the village of Deir Mimas were the ''first evidence we have that the Israeli forces laid new mines in south Lebanon in 2006,'' the United Nations Mine Action Co-ordination Centre South Lebanon (MACCSL) said.

It urged all sides in the July 12-Aug. 14 war between Israel and fighters from the Hezbollah Islamist guerrilla group to reveal where the weapons had been laid to avoid more casualties.

''The United Nations condemns the use of all anti-personnel mines and calls upon any party that laid such mines during the recent conflict to provide information as to where they have been laid,'' the U.N. centre said in a statement.

DEMINERS MAIMED Israel invaded southern Lebanon after Hezbollah captured two Israeli soldiers in a cross-border raid on July 12.

One of the Britons and the Bosnian, both of whom lost a foot, were working for the US demining company Armor Group.

They were trying to help a shepherd whose goats had detonated a mine in an area thought to be full of cluster bomb munitions.

On Saturday, the British company BACTEC Ltd was trying to clear the area and its team leader, a Briton, also stood on an anti-personnel mine and lost a foot, the UN statement said.

The UN said that during the clearance operation, teams had uncovered another Israeli anti-personnel mine.

''The mine is in very good condition and would appear to have been laid during the recent conflict between Israel and Lebanon,'' it said. A photo of the mine was posted on its Web site www.macclsl.org.

There was no immediate comment from Israel, which has been criticised internationally for heavy use of cluster munitions during the fighting in Lebanon.

Cluster munitions, which activist groups and some countries also want banned, are canisters delivered by rocket or shell containing hundreds of small bomblets. They often fail to explode on impact and can lie around for years posing a threat to civilians.

The International Campaign to Ban Landmines (ICBL), a co-laureate of the 1997 Nobel Peace Prize, denounced Israel's use of mines.

Only the government forces of Myanmar and Russia, and armed groups in about 10 countries, are thought to be still laying anti-personnel mines, the ICBL said.

''By using antipersonnel mines in south Lebanon, Israel will have joined the infamously exclusive club of states still resorting to these barbaric weapons,'' Sylvie Brigot, ICBL's executive director, said in a statement.

Reuters RK MIR RN2147