Fiji soldiers machine-gunned three Palestinian guerrillas on Sunday, killing at least one of them.
The shooting took place early Sunday (Fiji time) evening at checkpoint 1.2 on the main coast road in Southern Lebanon when the PLO fired a Russian made rocket at two Fiji soldiers who were negotiating with three PLO guerrillas.
The rocket passed between the two Fiji men hit a nearby lemon tree and exploded.
Immediately, the two Fiji soldiers manning a general-purpose machine gun cut down all three Palestinians.
One of the Palestinians was later confirmed dead and the other two were seriously injured. None of the Fiji soldiers was injured.
The Commander in Chief of the Royal Fiji Military Forces, Colonel Ian Thorpe, said in Suva they had reason to believe that a second Palestinian had died.
Col. Thorpe said a report on the incident had been received from the commander of the Fiji battalion of the United Nations Peace Keeping Force in Southern Lebanon (UNIFIL), Lieutenant Col.
Epeli Nailatikau. The report said after the shooting the Fiji men found a booby-trapped rocket-propelled grenade launcher, eight rockets and an AK7 automatic rifle.
“They found the weapons were connected to 35 pounds of explosives,” Col Thorpe said.
He said the soldiers were trained not to touch abandoned weapons in case they were bobby-trapped.
“In this case they were,” he said.
French bomb disposal experts were called in and the explosives were later detonated.
Major George Konrote said the RFMF’s main worry was the shooting could trigger a series of co-ordinated attacked from the PLO.
“I’m sure they are prepared for that,” Maj Konrote said.
Col. Thorpe said the Fiji soldiers were constantly alert to reprisal action from the Palestinians.
He pointed out that the shooting of the Palestinians was in according with UN regulations that allowed the Fijians to retaliate when fired upon.
He couldn’t name the Fiji men involved in the shooting, but confirmed they belonged to A company.
Maj Konrote, who was among the first Fiji troops to go to Lebanon, said there were Palestinian settlements within the Fiji area and over two weeks the Israelis had been shelling these people very close to Fiji soldiers.
