Beirut - The United Nations Interim Forces in Lebanon (UNIFIL) have taken extra precautionary measures after receiving threats against UN peacekeepers, a local Lebanese radio said Thursday.

Extraordinary security measures have been carried out in southern Lebanon after a bomb was discovered in the Wassani area on December 7, according to Voice of Lebanon radio.

Lebanese security sources were quoted as saying that UNIFIL has warned its patrols against passing near the southern Palestinian refugee camp of Ain el-Hilweh when crossing the costal highway from Sidon to Beirut.

The Lebanese army has also deployed more troops and carried out foot patrols along the two sides of the coastal road, the radio said.

UNIFIL forces in southern Lebanon have been targeted with road bombs in the past year and have received threats from Sunni fundamentalist groups who are believed to be hiding inside Ain el-Hilweh, east of the southern port city of Sidon.

The UN force was deployed after the 2006 war between Israel and the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah, in which more than 1,200 Lebanese, many of them civilians, were killed. (dpa)