The Chinese victim, Du Zhaoyu, was a lieutenant-colonel in the People's Liberation Army and had a postgraduate degree. He was sent to Lebanon in January as one of three Chinese UN observers.

Du was previously the secretary to the military attache in the Chinese Embassy in India.

He was born in Jinan, capital of East China's Shandong Province; and was the father of a 1-year-old son.

An 182-member Chinese engineering battalion, including a mine-sweeping company, an engineering company, a logistics company and a field hospital, started its peacekeeping mission in Lebanon in late March this year.

There are nearly 2,000 peacekeepers with UNIFIL, which began its mission in 1978 following UN resolutions.

Wan Dong, an official at the Ministry of National Defence, said eight Chinese military personnel including Du have died in the UN peacekeeping mission since 1990.

Since 1978, more than 250 UNIFIL military or civilian personnel have died on duty.

Wang said China has sent about 5,600 personnel to 15 UN peacekeeping missions since 1990, contributing the most troops among the five permanent members of the UN Security Council.

China now has more than 1,400 soldiers serving in UN peacekeeping missions in Lebanon, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Liberia and Sudan.