Arab Times

‘Israelis targeted UN peacekeepe­rs’

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MADRID, April 6, (AFP): A confidenti­al Spanish military report on the death of a Spanish UN peacekeepe­r in Israeli shelling in Lebanon said he was manning a post that appeared to have been targeted, a newspaper reported Sunday.

El Pais cited extracts from the report which drew on testimony from soldiers following the Jan 28 incident when the Israeli military shelled border areas following a Hezbollah attack that left two Israeli soldiers dead.

Corporal Ivan Lopez Sanchez, who was stationed nearby, told investigat­ors that the UN position was clearly targeted.

“Every time, they corrected the trajectory from Majidiye to the 428” post, where the UNIFIL peacekeepe­rs were stationed, he said.

Spain and Israel have agreed to carry out a joint probe into the death of 36-year-old corporal Javier Soria Toledo.

Another Spanish soldier, Sergeant Julio Xavier Garcia, echoed Sanchez, saying the shells initially fell about 500 metres (yards) north of the UN post and then they “corrected the trajectory towards the position.” RIYADH, April 6, (AFP): Saudi Arabia beheaded a citizen for drug traffickin­g on Monday raising to 57 the number of executions it has carried out so far this year.

Saleh al-Yami was convicted of smuggling hashish and banned narcotic pills and of wounding several policemen, the interior ministry said. He was executed in the southern province of Najran, said a ministry statement published by the official SPA news agency.

Saudi Arabia has seen a surge in executions this year. Human rights group Amnesty Internatio­nal says around half of them have been for drug-related offences.

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