Two UN peacekeepers wounded demining in S.Lebanon

BEIRUT, Dec 29 (Reuters) Two Belgian peacekeepers, part of an international force monitoring a ceasefire in south Lebanon, were wounded today when they stepped on a cluster bomb, a UNIFIL spokesman said.

The spokesman told Reuters the two were wounded while taking part in a demining operation near Majdal Silm village. Their wounds were serious but not life threatening.

There are more than 370 Belgian soldiers in the UN force, known as UNIFIL, that is helping the Lebanese army patrol a border zone in the south. UNIFIL's mandate comes from a UN Security Council resolution that ended the July-August war between Israel and Hezbollah guerrillas.

US-based Human Rights Watch has accused Israel of using cluster bombs in populated areas during the war in which around 1,200 people in Lebanon, mostly civilians and 157 Israelis, mostly soldiers, were killed.

Israel has in the past defended its right to use cluster bombs and says it only deploys them in accordance with international law.

The United Nations said in November Israel had used anti-personnel landmines, banned by most countries, as well as cluster bombs during its war in Lebanon.

Earlier this month, UNIFIL said its de-miners had destroyed a total of 15,887 separate explosive devices, including rockets, grenades and cluster bombs since the ceasefire came into effect on August. 14.

Hezbollah has also been accused by rights groups of using cluster munitions. It has denied the charge.

A report by London-based Landmine Action in October said hundreds of thousands of unexploded cluster bomblets still litter the Lebanese countryside.

REUTERS LL RK2255