Lebanon charges six Palestinians for UNIFIL attack

BEIRUT, Sept 6 (Reuters) Lebanon's judicial authorities charged six Palestinians today for their alleged involvement in an attack on a UN peacekeeping vehicle in south Lebanon last July, judicial sources said.

They were charged with conducting terrorist activities and attempting to kill UN peacekeepers. Three of the Palestinians were charged in absentia, while the other three have been arrested, the sources said.

Last July a small bomb went off near a UN military police observation post involving the Tanzanian contingent. The explosion caused limited damage to a UN four-wheel drive vehicle.

A car bomb killed six members of UNIFIL's Spanish battalion in the south in June. No one has yet been charged with that attack. But the Spanish government said it suspected it was the work of al Qaeda-inspired Islamist militants.

The United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) has grown to 13,300 troops and naval personnel from 31 countries under a UN Security Council resolution that halted last year's conflict between Israel and Hezbollah guerrillas.

REUTERS JK BD1629