Israel laid mines in Lebanon

A report issued by the UN Mine Action Coordination Center found that Israel laid mines in Lebanon during the month-long offensive it launched in the country this summer and killed more than 1,200 Lebanese civilians, and displaced a million others.

The report, the first direct accusation against Israel that it planted mines during the latest fighting in Lebanon, follows an investigation by the group of a land mine explosion on Friday which seriously injured four people, including two European disposal experts and a Lebanese medic.

A British and one Bosnian deminer working for London-based company ArmorGroup on a United Arab Emirates-funded project had their feet amputated, said UN spokesperson Dalya Farran, which described the incident as the first evidence proving Israel's use of anti-personnel mines in the conflict.

The explosions were caused by Israeli anti-personnel land mines placed in mine fields laid during the offensive that ended last August, the center in south Lebanon said.

Farran said that experts asserted that the mines were new Israeli anti-personnel weapons based on their "type, shape and condition."

"It is a landmine," said the spokesperson for the UN mine action co-ordination centre. "It is an Israeli No 4 anti-personnel mine. It was newly planted during the summer conflict.

"The entire area where the mine fields were found had been cleared by agency experts between 2002 and 2004, so clearly these are new ones," Farran said.

"It is the first evidence we have at the UN that Israel used landmines during the latest war."

The use, manufacture or stockpiling of anti-personnel landmines were banned in a landmark 1997 treaty ratified by 151 nations.

About 40 countries, including China, Russia and the United States, and Israel, refused to sign the treaty.

The Israeli army admitted last week that there had been "irregularities" in the use of cluster bombs during the summer offensive in Lebanon, after army officials claimed previously that they used cluster bombs only in accordance with international law.

UN experts believe that about million cluster bombs dropped by Israel during the July-August fighting remain unexploded in south Lebanon, which continues posing a risk for civilians.

So far 24 people died since war ended Aug. 14 in South Lebanon as a result of cluster bomb explosions.