The United Nations' peacekeeping force in southern Lebanon said on Wednesday that an incident at the weekend in which three U.N. observers and their translator were wounded was not caused by "direct or indirect fire".

 

The four members of the U.N.'s technical observation mission in southern Lebanon were wounded as they were carrying out a foot patrol in south Lebanon, where armed group Hezbollah has been trading fire with the Israeli military across the border.

 

Two security sources had earlier told Reuters the observers were wounded in an Israeli strike outside the border town of Rmeish. The Israeli military denied involvement in the incident.

 

Andrea Tenenti, spokesperson for the U.N. peacekeeping mission UNIFIL, said its "preliminary investigation showed that the incident was not caused by direct or indirect fire onto the group of UNTSO observers and their translator."