UN was told Golan peacekeepers seized ‘for their protection’

UNITED NATIONS: The United Nations on Friday said it had been informed that the Islamist militants who seized 44 Fijian peacekeepers in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights did so “for their own protection” and that all the detained blue-helmet soldiers are safe. UN officials had been trying to establish the whereabouts of the peacekeepers, who were seized by Al-Qaeda-linked rebels this week inside Syrian territory along the rocky frontier between Syria and the Golan Heights. “The United Nations has received assurances from credible sources that the 44 peacekeepers from the United Nations Disengagement Observer Force (UNDOF) who were taken from their position on the morning of Thursday, 28 August, are safe and in good health,” the UN press office said in a statement. It added that UNDOF has not had direct contact with them. “UNDOF has been informed that the intention behind those holding the peacekeepers was to remove them from an active battlefield to a safe area for their own protection,” the statement said. The statement added that 75 peacekeepers from the Philippines surrounded by militants and unable to leave their positions have also not been harmed and are in good health. AGENCIES