UNIFIL confirms "suspicious material" was found in south Lebanon

Apr 28, 2010, 17:52 GMT

Beirut - The spokesman of the United Nation Interim Forces in Southern Lebanon (UNIFIL), Neeraj Singh issued a statement on Wednesday confirming that 'suspicious material' was found in a car parked at a peacekeeping force headquarters in southern Lebanon.

'The material was found in the Marjayoun headquarters of the Spanish Battalion Last Friday during a routine inspection,' the statement said.

Singh denied Lebanese media reports that the car in which the 'suspicious material' was found belonged to any of the UNIFIL employees, adding that Lebanese security services had launched an investigation into the incident.

Meanwhile, a Lebanese security source said Wednesday that the Lebanese army intelligence arrested four individuals from the southern town of Marjayoun for investigative purposes.

The source said what the UNIFIL described as 'suspicious materials' were explosives hidden in a vehicle.

On April 6, Al Qaeda official Saleh al-Qaraawi, who is on the list of 85 most wanted terrorists, said in an interview published by al Qaeda-linked websites that his organization should have confronted 'the traitors in Lebanon, Hezbollah and UNIFIL.'

Since then, the UNIFIL force has taken extra security measures around their bases.

The UNIFIL force, which was first deployed in the southern part of the country following the first Israeli invasion to Lebanon in 1978, was enhanced in numbers following the July 2006 Israeli war against the Lebanese Shiite movement Hezbollah. Its main task is to monitor the Lebanese-Israeli border and keep the area out of tension.