UN report says Rooney death attack ‘unplanned’
IRISH peacekeeper Private Seán Rooney was killed in an ‘unpremeditated’ attack after his convoy drove into a wrong area in Lebanon, a Unifil preliminary report will show.
This comes one week after seven suspects were charged in relation to the December 14 ambush that led to the UN peacekeeper’s death and the wounding of three others.
Unifil spokesman Andrea Tenenti said its technical report into the incident is being finalised and will be sent to the UN’s headquarters in New York later this week.
It will then be issued to the Irish and Lebanese authorities, who are also carrying out their own investigations.
While its findings remain unpublished, a security official told the Irish Daily Mail that there is no evidence that the ambush was planned.
‘The preliminary investigation has found that the vehicles made a wrong turn,’ the source said.
‘This would have made it difficult for any premeditated attack to take place when no one knew that the convoy would be taking a different route.
‘It shows that a series of unfortunate events led to this incident occurring, which was caused by armed elements.’
The shooting took place near the town of Al-Aqbiya in southern Lebanon, which has a strong support base for the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah which denies any role in the killing.
Trooper Shane Kearney, 23, was also seriously injured in the attack.
Last month, the Lebanese military arrested a suspect ‘in cooperation with Hezbollah’.
The arrested man and six others were charged over the attack, according to sources a judicial official familiar with the case.