Canadian among UN observers feared dead in southern Lebanon

[Spazito]

UN Secretary General Kofi Annan has called upon the Israeli government to launch an investigation into an air strike that killed as many as four UN peacekeepers — one a Canadian — in southern Lebanon on Tuesday.

"I am shocked and deeply distressed by the apparently deliberate targeting by Israeli Defence Forces of a UN observer post in southern Lebanon that has killed two UN military observers, with two more feared dead," Annan said from Rome.

The bomb made a direct hit on the building and shelter of the observer post in the town Khiyam near the eastern end of the border with Israel, said Milos Struger, spokesman for the UN peacekeeping force in Lebanon known as UNIFIL. Canada is not a member of UNIFIL.

Trapped in the rubble

The other victims are from Austria, China and Finland. A UN official in New York City, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said four people were confirmed killed, while Lebanese security officials said two bodies remained trapped in the rubble.

more

http://www.cbc.ca/story/world/national/2006/07/25/un-lebanon.html

Edited to add:

Thanks to another DUer, Marie26, I am addin a link to another CTV article by a Canadian peacekeeper that may well be the Canadian feared dead:

A Canadian soldier's report from South Lebanon
Updated Wed. Jul. 19 2006 10:58 AM ET


After the kidnapping of two Israeli soldiers by Hezbollah, and the subsequent bombing campaign began against Lebanon, we received an email from Major Paeta Hess-von Kruedener, a Canadian Forces soldier serving with the UN in South Lebanon.


"If you are interested in a Canadian perspective on the events of yesterday and what is happening here in the area I am serving in, I can provide some concise info for you about the current situation," he wrote.


With the Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry, Major Hess-von Kruedener is the only Canadian serving as a United Nations Military Observer in Lebanon. He is stationed at the UN base about 10 kilometres from where the Syrian, Lebanese and Israeli borders meet. The UN's mission there is to report ceasefire violations.

Here is his full email, written July 18, with background on the mission and the current situation:

more

http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20060718/mideast_lebanon_UN_060716/20060718/