IRISH UN troops were last night trying to find out who set off a roadside bomb in southern Lebanon that led to one of the worst outbreaks of violence in the region for almost a month.
The killing of Mazen Farhat (14) outside the village of Bradchit and the wounding of two children led to a Hizbullah attack on northern Israel which left 13 Israelis wounded.
The Israelis retaliated by firing 200 howitzer shells around the neighbouring villages.
First reports suggested that the explosives apparently concealed in fibre glass inside a wall and wired to three other bombs were placed on the roadway by Israeli backed militiamen to explode when Hizbullah guerrillas passed by on their way to attack the nearest Israeli artillery base south of the village. Local security sources, however, said that Mazen Farhat had been playing with the bomb which killed him and that an investigation by the UN's Irish battalion had still not discovered who left the bombs in the wall.
After Mazen Farhat's death on Monday night his brother, Ibrahim (3), was badly wounded the Hizbullah seemed in no doubt as to who was to blame. We warned the Zionist enemy that the resistance will strike back at every terrorist act he commits against civilians," a statement from the pro Iranian militia stated. The Israelis denied responsibility, but at dawn yesterday, at least 16 Katyusha rockets were fired by the Hizbullab towards the Israeli towns of Kiryat Shmona and Nahariya, wounding 13 civilians.
The immediate peace of southern Lebanon could thus depend on the results of the UN inquiry.
Despite the earlier retaliation, the Israeli Prime Minister, Mr Shimon Peres, said he would not be pushed into a hasty response to the attacks.
"I promise you this is not restraint and it is not fear and not elections. It is cold consideration completely," he said.
Opposition members have criticised Mr Peres, who is facing national elections on May 29th, for not hitting back hard at the guerrillas after their earlier attacks.
The Likud party leader, Mr Benjamin Netanyahu, who is running against Mr Peres for the prime minister's post, visited Kiryat Shmona after the attack.
"There are many ways of fighting terrorism but the first decision is to fight it and I hope that decision is forthcoming," Mr Netanyahu told reporters. "Mr Peres knows that he'll have my backing if he does this."