A New Zealand soldier in Lebanon has told of how he narrowly escaped being one of the United Nations peacekeepers killed in an Israeli air strike.
Squadron Leader Andrew Greig was supposed to be at the UN observers post at the time of the strike which killed four of his colleagues but warfare prevented him from getting there.
"I was due to be there a couple of days ago but we couldn't make it because the roads were being shelled too much so we couldn't actually travel across to the patrol base," Greig told Radio New Zealand.
"So I was due to go and relieve the guys on the patrol base the day before it happened.
"I should have been there."
The four UN observers killed at the patrol base at Khiam in southern Lebanon came from Austria, Canada, China and Finland.
The Israeli strike occurred when Greig was on his way to the base, where five people are normally stationed at a time.
"So we lost four people out of my team of 10 last night," he said.
"We're absolutely devastated. It's just astounding, it's thrown us quite a lot."
Greig said since the attack he had gone to the patrol base and identified the bodies.
New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark has deplored the Israeli attack on the UN post.
"We could easily have had a New Zealand casualty," Clark said.
"We were so close to having a New Zealander in that base where the ... observers were killed."
It's the second time in a fortnight the Kiwi soldier has survived an attack in Lebanon.
A bomb blast shattered windows in his Tyre apartment 11 days ago and left concrete shards embedded in the wall of a bedroom being used by his two young sons, The New Zealand Herald reported.
The boys and Greig's wife Bronwyn Wood were evacuated to Cyprus last week.
Greig said he would be staying in Lebanon to continue performing
UN duties.
Clark, says the two New Zealand military personnel attached to the
United Nations in southern Lebanon will stay put for the time
being.
The PM says New Zealand's representative at the UN raised
concern about the safety of New Zealand and other personnel
in Lebanon. She says while the UN has raised its alert
status, no military personnel are being evacutated at this
time.
However, Clark says the situation is being closely monitored by the
United Nations, and evacuation must remain an option.
