U.N. angered by Israeli strike

An ambassador denied Kofi Annan's claim that it was intentional.
BEIRUT, Lebanon (AP) -- An Israeli bomb destroyed a U.N. observer post on the border in southern Lebanon, killing two peacekeepers and leaving two others feared dead in what appeared to be a deliberate strike, U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan said.
The bomb made a direct hit on the building and shelter of the observer post in the town of Khiyam near the eastern end of the border with Israel, said Milos Struger, spokesman for the U.N. peacekeeping force in Lebanon known as UNIFIL.
Annan issued a statement saying two U.N. military observers were killed with two more feared dead. Earlier, U.S. Ambassador John Bolton said the Security Council was informed that four officers were killed.
Israel's U.N. Ambassador Dan Gillerman expressed his "deep regret" for the deaths and denied the post was intentionally targeted.
Rescue workers were trying to clear the rubble, but Israeli firing "continued even during the rescue operation," Struger said.
U.N. officials said four observers were in the post when the bomb hit, and the building had been destroyed. Two bodies had been recovered and two were unaccounted for, apparently still in the rubble. They spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue.
The victims included observers from Austria, Canada, China and Finland, U.N. and Lebanese military officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to release the information to the media. It was not immediately known which were confirmed dead.
Accusation and response
As reports of the attack emerged, Annan rushed out of a hotel in Rome following a dinner with U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Lebanese Prime Minister Fuad Saniora.
"I am shocked and deeply distressed by the apparently deliberate targeting by Israeli Defense Forces of a U.N. Observer post in southern Lebanon," Annan said in the statement.
Annan said in his statement that the post had been there for a long time and was marked clearly and was hit despite assurances from Prime Minister Ehud Olmert that U.N. positions would not be attacked.
"I call on the government of Israel to conduct a full investigation into this very disturbing incident and demand that any further attack on U.N. positions and personnel must stop," Annan said in the statement.
Gillerman called the assertions "premature and erroneous."
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