Hizbullah involvement `quickly dismissed` - Reports blame Salafis for attack on peacekeepers

Source: Daily Star, 04-7-2007
BEIRUT/MADRID: A Salafi extremist group carried out the June 24 bomb attack in South Lebanon that left dead six UN peacekeepers serving with the Spanish contingent, media reports said on Tuesday. The reports, citing European intelligence sources, said a Salafi group "plotted" the attack on the Spanish contingent of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL).
Three Spaniards and three Colombians of the contingent died in the attack, which struck their personnel carrier as they patrolled the main road between the towns of Marjayoun and Khiam near the "Israeli" border.
Media reports said the Salafi cell had infiltrated deep into the South from another part of the country in order to carry out attacks.
Reports added, however, that the Salafi group was likely assisted by "members of local terrorist groups during the preparatory stages of the operation, way ahead of the assault."
Intelligence reports said the likelihood of Hizbullah being involved in the attack was "quickly dismissed" after Hizbullah showed cooperation during investigations, and also after high ranking Hizbullah officials informed the UNIFIL leadership that attacks on peacekeepers "also targeted Hizbullah and stability in South Lebanon."
Information provided by intelligence sources concurred with comments by Spanish Defense Minister Jose Antonio Alonzo that the attack was carried out by "non-Lebanese terrorists," added the reports.
Speaking in front of the Spanish Parliament, Alonzo also said Spanish intelligence units have reached "clear-cut" conclusions that the bomb planted inside the Renault Rapide used in the bombing constituted around 50 kilograms of "highly explosive materials" and was detonated by remote control.
A Lebanese security report said last week C4 explosives, five times more powerful than TNT, were used in the attack.
Media reports also quoted the European intelligence sources as saying that the Lebanese Army, in collaboration with UNIFIL, thwarted an attempt to attack a German warship off the Lebanese coast "not too long ago." Germany is the leader of the UNIFIL naval component.
The sources added that "strict monitoring" by the Lebanese Army also led to the discovery of a terrorist group that had been undertaking scuba-diving training.
Lebanese security sources on Tuesday declined to comment on all the media reports.
Meanwhile, Military Prosecutor Jean Fahd held a security meeting with representatives of various Lebanese security forces investigating the June attacks on the UNIFIL, a judicial report said on Tuesday.
Fahd, who was briefed by forensic and military experts regarding the latest developments into the investigation, stressed the necessity of maintaining "very close collaboration" between various security services "in order to uncover the truth about the murders."
The report added that Fahd is expected to meet with UNIFIL commander General Claudio Graziano, "in the upcoming hours" to discuss the outcome of the latest investigations into the attacks.
Spanish Ambassador to Beirut Miguel Benzo Pereya informed State Prosecutor Saeed Mirza last week about the Spanish government`s wish to assign a Spanish investigative magistrate to work along side Lebanese judicial authorities investigating the attack and for the purpose of the trading of investigative expertise between the two countries.