Norway Armed Forces Lebanon

Israeli soldiers in southern Lebanon fired on two Norwegian peacekeepers Monday after mistaking them for Arab guerrillas, killing one and seriously wounding the other. An Israeli army statement said the soldiers sighted "suspicious figures" before dawn and fired at the U.N. troops with tank shells and mortar rounds. The Norwegians were on foot patrol near the village of Al Balat in Israel's self-declared buffer zone. "We have no idea why they opened fire," said Timur Goksel, spokesman for the U.

Israeli soldiers in southern Lebanon fired on two Norwegian peacekeepers Monday after mistaking them for Arab guerrillas, killing one and seriously wounding the other. An Israeli army statement said the soldiers sighted "suspicious figures" before dawn and fired at the U.N. troops with tank shells and mortar rounds. The Norwegians were on foot patrol near the village of Al Balat in Israel's self-declared buffer zone. "We have no idea why they opened fire," said Timur Goksel, spokesman for the U.