An Irish soldier has been killed in Lebanon, with a second fighting for his life, after they were attacked last night.
The government has said a vehicle carrying four Irish peacekeepers was surrounded and attacked by a hostile crowd last night.
The family of the man killed was informed in the early hours of this morning.
The injured solider is from Cork and has been named locally as Shane Kearney from Killeagh and the local community is rallyinga round the injured man.
Killeagh GAA have said a church service is taking place in Killeagh tonight to pray for their club member,.
Speaking in Brussels, Taoiseach Micheál Martin paid tribute to the soldier and his family:
We're all deeply shocked and very saddened. The loss of life in the Lebanon are one of our peacekeepers and another injured is a reminder to us of the extraordinary sacrifice that our peacekeepers make on a constant basis. They operate in at times hostile and very difficult and dangerous environments in which we'll always be conscious of that."
