KHIYAM (Reuters):

A roadside bomb killed four Spanish peacekeepers and wounded three yesterday in the first such attack on United Nations (U.N.) forces in Lebanon since last year's war between Israel and Hezbollah, security sources said.

They said the bomb had been detonated by remote control as two U.N. vehicles drove past on a busy road near the southern town of Khiyam. Witnesses said ammunition in an armoured U.N. troop carrier had exploded after the initial blast.

Spain's Defence Ministry confirmed four soldiers had died.

A spokeswoman for the U.N. Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) confirmed there had been casualties but gave no details. "It is suspected that the incident was caused by an explosive device," she said. An investigation was under way.

There was no immediate claim for the attack.

A spokesman for Fatah al-Islam, an al-Qaida-inspired Sunni group, which has been battling Lebanese troops in a Palestinian refugee camp in the north for the past five weeks, accused UNIFIL on June 2 of bombarding the camp. UNIFIL denied it.

Small bomb found

A few days later, a small bomb was found and defused in Tyre, near a beach resort frequented by UNIFIL personnel.

Last Sunday, two rockets fired from south Lebanon landed in Israel, causing no casualties. Hezbollah denied involvement.

UNIFIL's previous commander said this year that Sunni Islamist militants were his biggest security worry.