Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper said the shelling of the UN post this week by Israeli forces which killed four UN observers including one Canadian was a "terrible tragedy."

In an official statement released late on Wednesday, Harper said he would like to know why the post, hit by a bomb in an Israeli airstrike on Tuesday, still had UN staff working there even though it was in the midst of a conflict zone.

"We want to find out why this UN post was attacked and also why it remained manned during what is now, more or less, a war," Harper said.

He also said he did not believe the bombing was on purpose, while defending Israel's "right to defend itself against terrorists and violent attacks."

"I certainly doubt that to be the case, given that the government of Israel has been cooperating with us in our evacuation efforts, in our efforts to move Canadian citizens out of Lebanon and also trying to keep our own troops that are on the ground, involved in the evacuation, out of harm's way," he said.

"I think this event is obviously a terrible tragedy," the prime minister said. "But that doesn't change the right of a country to defend itself against terrorists and violent attacks."

The Canadian government identified Maj. Paeta Hess-von Kruedener of Kingston, Ontario, as missing and presumed dead following the Israeli bombardment of the post on Tuesday.

Three other UN observers from Austria, China and Finland were also killed by the Israeli bombardment in the town of Khiam, near the eastern end of Lebanon's border with Israel.

Israeli officials have denied that the attack was deliberate, but an initial UN report suggested before the post was hit, peacekeepers had called the Israeli military 10 times in a six-hour period to warn them the shelling was getting too close.

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert called Harper late on Wednesday to express "deep regret" over the death of the Canadian soldier and offered full cooperation in investigating the incident, a spokeswoman for Harper's office said.

Source: Xinhua