TYRE, Lebanon, Aug 23, 2007 (AFP) - Cluster bombs killed one de-mining specialist and wounded three on Thursday in continuing efforts to clear the unexploded munitions dropped by Israel on south Lebanon in its war with Hezbollah last year.

The casualties were inflicted in two accidents, one in the village of Kfar Rumman, in the Nabatiyah region where the British Mine Advisory Group is working.

MAG official Andy Gleeson told AFP that one man was killed and two seriously wounded in the blast. All three were Lebanese.

A Swedish man, working to clear munitions in Qaaqaiyat al-Jisr village, in the same region, was wounded in similar circustances, Lebanese police said.

Nabatiyah, some 15 kilometres (10 miles) north of the Israeli frontier, is one of the most heavily munitions-polluted districts in Lebanon. An estimated one million cluster bombs dropped by Israel failed to explode during its 34-day war with the Shiite Hezbollah militia.

The United Nations anti-mines centre, which coordinates clearance work, says 126,000 cluster bombs have been cleared in the past year. Around 30 people have been killed and 180 wounded by them since the end of the war last August.

The centre has several times criticised lack of cooperation from Israel, which refuses to provide maps of target areas for the cluster bombs or the numbers dropped, something which considerably slows down the clearance work.

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