BOURJ AL-SHEMALI, Lebanon: A roadside bomb hit a French UNIFIL patrol near the southern city of Tyre Friday, wounding five peacekeepers and prompting France to say it would not be intimidated by such attacks.

"I condemn in the strongest terms the cowardly attack that was carried out against UNIFIL this morning, wounding five French peacekeepers and a civilian," Foreign Minister Alain Juppe said in a statement following the attack, the third against UNIFIL this year.

France is "determined to continue its involvement with UNIFIL [and] will not be intimidated by such vile acts," Juppe said.

At 10 a.m. Friday, a roadside bomb ripped through a French UNIFIL patrol in Bourj al-Shemali, near Tyre, wounding five peacekeepers and one Lebanese civilian.

"This morning, a UNIFIL patrol traveling at the outskirts of Tyre was targeted by an explosion ... five peacekeepers have been wounded as a result,” UNIFIL spokesperson Andrea Tenenti told The Daily Star.

Security sources said a Lebanese man, traveling along the street on his motorcycle, was also wounded in the attack, which targeted a four-wheel drive vehicle belonging to the French contingent serving with the U.N. Interim Force in Lebanon.

The wounded were taken to Jabal Amel hospital in Tyre. One of the French peacekeepers was said to be in a critical condition. The Lebanese man was identified as 19-year-old Ali Mohammad Safi.

The attack drew swift condemnation from Prime Minister Najib Mikati, President Michel Sleiman and Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, as well as from Hezbollah.

Mikati condemned the attacks which he said also target the security of Lebanese, especially southerners, during a security meeting that he chaired at the Grand Serail.

“Such attacks will not affect the work of the UNIFIL in the south especially the French contingent nor affect voluntary countries' commitment to implementing Resolution 1701,” he was quoted as saying.

Sleiman said the attack was intended to force UNIFIL to withdraw from Lebanon and obstruct its work as a peacekeeping force in the south.

During a news conference in Armenia, Sleiman added that France has sacrificed so much for Lebanon and it will not succumb to what he described as terrorist attacks.

Hezbollah condemned the attack, saying it was intended to destabilize the security of the country.

This is the third roadside bomb targeting a UNIFIL convoy this year, with six Italian peacekeepers being wounded in May, while in July five French soldiers were wounded in another blast. Both occurred in Sidon, and no group has ever claimed responsibility for either attack.

Italy said after the May attack that it would downsize its contingent, leaving the French with the largest in the peacekeeping force.

Following the July attack, reports surfaced that Paris threatened to downsize its contingent if future attacks occurred. In response, Prime Minister Najib Mikati sent a letter to President Nicolas Sarkozy in September assuring Paris that Lebanon would prevent future occurrences and urging Sarkozy to maintain its international peacekeeping numbers in Lebanon.

Security sources said the bomb was placed under a garbage container on the side of a road leading to the Nabbaha neighborhood and went off around 10 a.m.

UNIFIL’s Tenenti said a U.N. forensic team and investigators are currently working with their counterparts in the Lebanese Army to determine circumstances behind the incident, which no one has yet claimed responsibility for.

Speaker Berri said the attack aimed at “transforming Lebanon and particularly the south to an area of concern and uncertainty,” and said it ultimately served the interests of Israel.

He said Israel wishes to disturb security in able to eliminate witnesses to its violations and crimes in Lebanon.

“We call on the army and security institutions to increase awareness and intensify measures aimed at uncovering those responsible for the organized terrorist crimes,” he said.-Additional reporting by Dana Khraiche