The attack that killed 24 year-old Pvt. Seán Rooney of Newtowncunningham took place, as he and seven other Irish peacekeepers from U.N. peacekeeping mission, known as UNIFIL, were on their way to the Beirut airport.
A person familiar with the investigation said local residents were angered and became aggressive when two UNIFIL armored vehicles took a detour through Al-Aqbiya, which the residents said is not part of the area under UNIFIL’s mandate. The Lebanese militant Hezbollah group, which has bases and traditional strongholds in southern Lebanon, has not commented on the attack.
One of the unidentified attackers shot Rooney in the head, a security official said. Three other Irish peacekeepers in another UNIFIL vehicle were injured when their car crashed into the aluminum shutters of a building and rolled over as it tried to flee the scene.At the airport memorial, U.N. peacekeepers stood by Rooney’s coffin after it arrived from a hospital the southern city of Sidon. His body was then transferred to a military carrier to be taken back to Ireland.