Ministry of Social Affairs assesses assistance for families of fallen TNI soldiers in Lebanon

Jakarta (ANTARA) - The Ministry of Social Affairs is carrying out an assessment process to determine the form of support and assistance to be provided to the families of TNI soldiers who died while carrying out a peacekeeping mission in southern Lebanon.

Social Affairs Minister Saifullah Yusuf in Jakarta on Tuesday expressed deep concern and condolences over the incident that befell personnel from the Satgas Yonmek XXIII-S/UNIFIL task force.

“We share in the grief, and the Ministry of Social Affairs will conduct an assessment to determine what kind of support and assistance can be given,” he said.

Previously, the TNI Headquarters Information Centre (Puspen) confirmed that two soldiers, Captain (Inf) Zulmi Aditya Iskandar and Staff Sergeant Muhammad Nur Ichwan, died while on a vehicle escort mission in southern Lebanon on Monday (30/3).

In addition to the fatalities, two other soldiers, Lieutenant (Inf) Sulthan Wirdean Maulana and Private Deni Rianto, were reported injured due to an explosion that hit their tactical vehicle during the assignment.

TNI Information Centre Head Major General TNI Aulia Dwi Nasrullah explained that the authorities are still awaiting the official investigation results from UNIFIL to uncover the exact cause of the vehicle explosion.

With this latest incident, a total of three TNI soldiers have now died while carrying out duties as UN peacekeeping forces in Lebanon.