Chinese peacekeeping force returns from Lebanon

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2009-02-18 11:07

CHENGDU -- A team of 170 Chinese soldiers have landed here on Tuesday after an eight-month peacekeeping mission to Lebanon.

They are the first batch of the fourth engineering battalion and the third medical team that China sent to Lebanon. The second batch of 165 is expected to return later this month.

China sent the same number of soldiers to replace their returned counterparts on Monday. Both the squadrons are from southwest China's Chengdu Military Command.

The fourth engineering battalion built 25 roads with a total length of more than four kilometers, and has removed or destroyed more than 600 mines and explosives, according to the peacekeeping force.

They have also cleared mines on an area of more than 135,600 square meters in southern Lebanon.

The People's Liberation Army has sent more than 11,000 military personnel to participate in 18 UN peacekeeping operations since 1990, according to a white paper on the country's national defense in 2008 that was issued earlier this year. Eight soldiers lost their lives on duty.