Lebanon bomb blast kills Syrian worker and wounds four people

M&C
Tuesday, 18 September 2007
Deutsche Presse-Agentur

A Syrian worker was killed and four people were injured when a cluster bomb possibly left behind from Israel's war on Lebanon last year exploded in a remote area of northeastern Lebanon, police said.

The victims were working in a field in the As-Sawah village, 80 kilometres north-west of the city of Baalbek, when they picked up a strange-looking object.

The object exploded killing Mahmoud al-Arab, 24, instantly and seriously injuring four others including a 13-year-old girl, the police statement said.

An initial police investigation showed the blast was possibly caused by an Israeli cluster bomb.

Israel has been accused of firing as many as 4 million cluster bombs into Lebanon during the July 2006 war. United Nations demining experts say up to 1 million cluster bombs failed to explode immediately and still pose a threat to civilians.