A team of eight Defence Forces personnel are travelling to Lebanon today to support members of the battalion of Private Seán Rooney.
Private Rooney was killed on Wednesday while serving as part of the UN peacekeeping mission in the country.
Members of the team will also assist the UNIFIL investigation into what happened to Private Rooney and his colleague Private Shane Kearney, who was critically injured.
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Private Kearney remains in hospital following the ambush in the village of Al-Aqbiya.
This afternoon, the Defence Forces said that two soldiers who were part of the convoy on Wednesday and received minor injuries had been discharged from hospital.
Meanwhile, an Irish Air Corps Casa aircraft is positioned in Malta for the repatriation of Private Rooney's body.
The Defence Forces confirmed that it flew there yesterday as a contingency measure.
Meanwhile, the UN peacekeeping force in south Lebanon urged the Lebanese government to ensure a "speedy" investigation into the fatal shooting.
UNIFIL acts as a buffer between Lebanon and Israel, neighbours that remain technically at war. The force operates in the south near the border, a stronghold of Iran-backed group Hezbollah.
Caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati and army chief Joseph Aoun visited the UNIFIL headquarters in the border town of Naqura, denouncing the attack that claimed Private Sean Rooney's life.
Force spokesman Andrea Tenenti called it "a very serious incident" and told reporters it was "important" for the Lebanese authorities to bring the perpetrators to justice.
"It is a crime against the international community, against peacekeepers who are here ... to maintain stability," he added.
It is the first death of a UNIFIL member in a violent incident in Lebanon since January 2015, when a Spanish peacekeeper was killed by Israeli fire.
UNIFIL was set up in 1978 to monitor the withdrawal of Israeli forces after they invaded Lebanon in reprisal for a Palestinian attack.
Israel withdrew from south Lebanon in 2000 but fought a devastating 2006 war with Hezbollah and its allies.
UNIFIL was beefed up to oversee the ceasefire that ended the 2006 conflict, and now counts nearly 10,000 troops.
Read more: Lebanon attack - What we know so far
Witnesses said villagers in the Al-Aqbiya area blocked Private Rooney's vehicle after it took a road along the Mediterranean coast not normally used by the United Nations force.
Al-Aqbiya is just outside UNIFIL's area of operations, the force said.
A Lebanese judicial source told AFP that the driver was killed by a bullet to the head, one of seven that penetrated the vehicle.
The three passengers were wounded when the vehicle hit a pylon and overturned.
The source said the evidence suggested there were two gunmen, who were now being sought by the security forces.
Óglaigh na hÉireann will deploy a team to Lebanon this weekend to support the 121 Inf Bn and their personnel.
— Óglaigh na hÉireann (@defenceforces) December 16, 2022
4 members of our Personnel Support Service will provide counselling services to the Bn while 3 MP investigators and a Legal Officer will assist with the investigation. pic.twitter.com/O9tIVgNngK
Additional reporting AFP
