At least 25 bullets were fired at the UN vehicle carrying Defence Forces personnel during the fatal attack in south Lebanon last week.
It is understood the bullet-proof glass and armour plating blocked the vast majority of shots and that the rounds that killed Pte Seán Rooney entered through an open tailgate at the back of the UN vehicle.
The remains of Pte Rooney were repatriated on Monday morning by an Air Corps’ aircraft that flew into Casement Aerodrome. A postmortem is due to be carried out before a funeral with full military honours takes place on Thursday in Co Louth before burial in Co Donegal.
Trooper Shane Kearney who was also in the vehicle remains in a serious condition in a Lebanese hospital but is now breathing on his own.
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UN peacekeeping force completes investigation into attack that killed Irish soldier
Preliminary investigations into Wednesday’s attack suggest the tailgate of the Unifil vehicle was opened as an angry mob surrounded the vehicle in the coastal village of Al-Aqbieh after it took a wrong turn off the standard route between the UN area of operations and Beirut airport.
The armoured unitality vehicle then took evasive action and drove on. It was chased by at least one vehicle and came under fire from two gunmen before crashing.
It is as yet unclear if the fatal shots were fired before or after the crash but Defence Forces officials are treating the attack as a targeted attempt to murder the occupants. Only Pte Rooney suffered gunshot wounds. Trooper Kearney received serious head injuries in the crash and two other Irish soldiers received more minor injuries and have since been discharged from hospital.
A criminal investigation has been launched by the Lebanese Armed Forces. Investigations by the United Nations and the Defence Forces are also under way.
The Defence Forces investigation is being led by Irish military police with the support of two Garda detectives from the National Bureau of Criminal Investigation and a Garda ballistics expert.
The Irish Times understands the Irish team has sought access to all ballistics and forensics reports gathered by the Lebanese authorities to date and has requested a point of liaison be established between the two inquiries.
Separately, Unifil officials have made unofficial contact with Hizbullah to request its co-operation and assistance in the investigations, according to defence sources.
Hizbullah has a strong influence in the area, as do its allies in the Amal Movement.
Hizbullah has been increasingly critical of the actions of Unifil in the area of late, leading to several confrontations between locals and peacekeepers. One focus of the investigations is whether Hizbullah played a role in inciting or directing the attack. It has denied any involvement.
The most senior Christian leader in Lebanon, Maronite Patriarch Bechara Boutros al-Rahi, a frequent critic of Hizbullah, called the attack “an assassination” but did not explicitly accuse the group.
On Monday, the Amal Movement released a statement and called the attack “a reprehensible and unfortunate accident”.
Lebanon’s caretaker prime minister Najib Mikati said he hopes the army’s investigation will be completed soon. He said the fact the attack took place outside Unifil’s area of operations suggested it had not been planned in advance.
