One peacekeeper’s condition was serious, said Neeraj Singh, a spokesman for the UNIFIL peacekeeping force. Two civilians also were wounded.
The explosion struck as the peacekeepers’ vehicles traveled south on the main highway in Sidon, leaving a crater in the road and scattered debris from the charred UN vehicles. Police said the bomb contained up to 12 kilograms of explosive material.
Italian state TV said the blast was caused by a homemade bomb placed just behind the low concrete barrier lining the highway and that two vehicles in a four-vehicle convoy were struck.
“This is a despicable act that is clearly directed at undermining UN Security Council resolution 1701 and stability in the south,” Singh said. He was referring to the resolution that ended the 34-day Hezbollah-Israel war in 2006, which killed more than 1,200 Lebanese and 160 Israelis.
The peacekeeping force is deployed in southern Lebanon to monitor the border with Israel.
The last bomb attack on peacekeepers was in January 2008, when a roadside bomb struck a UN vehicle traveling along the coastal highway south of Beirut, lightly wounding two peacekeepers.
The deadliest attack was in June 2007, when a bomb hit an armored personnel carrier near the Israeli border and killed six Spanish peacekeepers.
No group has claimed responsibility for any of the attacks.
Friday’s explosion comes amid rising tensions in Lebanon, which has been without a government since January after the Hezbollah militant group and its allies walked out of the Cabinet. A deadlock between Hezbollah and its Western-backed rivals in Lebanon has delayed the formation of a new government.
There are also concerns that unrest in neighboring Syria, which has seen more than 10 weeks of protests against the autocratic government there, could spill over into Lebanon.
Damascus has long held significant influence in Lebanon.
The explosion came the same day that UNIFIL commemorates the International Day of United Nations Peacekeepers to honor colleagues who lost their lives in the line of duty.
Italian Foreign Ministry officials had initially said one peacekeeper was killed in Friday’s blast, but the joint chiefs of staff’s office later said nobody was killed.
There are nearly 1,800 Italian soldiers, including a naval component, in the UNIFIL mission.
Italian Premier Silvio Berlusconi in a statement expressed solidarity with the wounded “and to our young people involved in the peace mission.”
