MADRID - Spain will continue to take part in a UN peacekeeping force in Lebanon despite a roadside bombing that killed five Spanish soldiers there on Sunday, Spanish Defence Minister Jose Antonio Alonso said.
"Spain supports and will continue to support the United Nations UNIFIL mission," he told a televised news conference.
Three of the dead were Colombian nationals serving in the Spanish army while the other two were Spanish citizens.
The attack in the Marjayoun-Khiam valley in southern Lebanon was the first deadly attack on the UN's peacekeeping force in Lebanon known as UNIFIL since last year's Israel-Hezbollah war.
Spain has deployed nearly 1,100 troops to southeastern Lebanon near the border with Israel as part of UNIFIL, which has 13,225 soldiers from 30 countries.
UNIFIL first deployed in Lebanon in 1978 after an Israeli invasion but was expanded from some 2,000 members after the war between Israel and Hezbollah guerrillas.
A total of 250 troops and 10 civilian staff or observers working with the force have been killed since the mission was first deployed almost 30 years ago.
06/24/2007 19:15 GMT