DUBLIN (Reuters) - An Irish army officer in south Lebanon warned Israel six times that air strikes threatened the lives of U.N. observers there before four staff were killed in a direct hit, Ireland's Foreign Ministry said on Wednesday.

"On six separate occasions he was in contact with the Israelis to warn them that their bombardment was endangering the lives of U.N. staff in South Lebanon," a Department of Foreign Affairs spokesman
said. "He warned: 'You have to address this problem or lives may be lost'," the spokesman said of comments by Lieutenant Colonel John Molloy, the chief liaison officer between U.N. forces in South Lebanon and the Israelis.

The remarks came after Foreign Minister Dermot Ahern summoned Israel's ambassador to his office to "protest at the strongest possible level". Speaking to reporters after the meeting, Ahern cast doubt on assurances the deaths had been an accident. "Evidence that we have would suggest that this was either an incredible accident or else was in some way directly targeted," Ahern told reporters following the meeting.