AMERICAN LEBANESE COORDINATION COUNCIL

Prime Minister Fouad Saniora denounced the “suspicious terrorist attack,” saying “it targets Lebanon’s security and stability.”

Witnesses said the powerful blast set fire in the peacekeepers’ vehicle which was moving on the main road just off Khiam, a major Hizbullah stronghold in south Lebanon.

UNIFIL said in a statement that six troops from a Spanish contingent were killed and two others seriously wounded in an “apparent car bomb attack” while they were on patrol.

Initial reports said five soldiers serving in the Spanish army were killed and four others wounded after the blast.

Lebanese officials said it appeared the explosion was triggered by remote control. No body parts were found in the car, meaning the bomb was detonated from a distance and did not involve a suicide attacker.

UNIFIL commander Major-General Claudio Graziano of Italy said the bombing was aimed at destabilizing the region.

“It’s not an attack against Lebanon and UNIFIL only but against the stability of the region. This attack has made UNIFIL more committed to fulfill its mission in southern Lebanon,” he said in a statement.

In Madrid, Defense Minister Jose Antonio Alonso said Spain will continue to take part in the U.N. peacekeeping force in Lebanon despite the roadside bombing.

“Spain supports and will continue to support the United Nations UNIFIL mission,” he told a televised news conference.

“This mission was deployed to introduce peace and security to a region which has been especially punished, a region which suffered a terrible war last summer and where it was possible to restore peace thanks to the work of UNIFIL,” he said.

Alonso arrived in Lebanon on Monday to visit his country’s troops in the aftermath of the deadly attack. (AP-AFP-Naharnet) (AP photo shows Spanish U.N peacekeepers carrying one of their dead colleagues)