A senior Hezbollah official on Thursday said an "unintentional incident" had led to the death of an Irish soldier on a U.N. peacekeeping mission in southern Lebanon the previous evening, saying the armed group was not involved.

Wafiq Safa told Reuters his party offered its condolences "after the unintentional incident that took place between the residents of al-Aqbieh and individuals from the Irish unit," and urged the party not be "inserted" into the incident.