FILE PHOTO: Members of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) peacekeeping mission attend the repatriation ceremony for Irish soldier Sean Rooney who was killed on a U.N. peacekeeping patrol, at Beirut International Airport, in Beirut, Lebanon December 18, 2022. REUTERS/Mohamed Azakir
BEIRUT (Reuters) - A Lebanese military tribunal has formally accused five members of Hezbollah and the Amal Movement of killing an Irish UNIFIL officer in 2022, a senior Lebanese judicial source told Reuters on Thursday.
Private Sean Rooney, 23, was killed on Dec 15 in the first fatal attack on U.N. peacekeepers in Lebanon since 2015.
The judicial source said the military tribunal judge accused the five people of conducting a criminal act that led to Rooney's killing and to the attempted murder of three other soldiers.
One person of the accused five is detained, while four are still at large.
Seven people including the accused five were already accused by Lebanon's judiciary in January but this new accusation identifies them as members of Hezbollah and Amal Movement.
(Reporting by Laila Bassam; Writing by Ahmed Elimam; Editing by Alison Williams and Mark Porter)
