President Higgins to attend burial of Private Seán Rooney in Newtown

The President of Ireland, Michael D Higgins will attend the burial of Private Seán Rooney in Donegal on Thursday.

The 24-year-old, who was tragically killed in Lebanon last Wednesday night, will be laid to rest in Newtowcunningham.

Private Rooney's funeral mass will take place at 9am at the Church of The Holy Family in Dundalk.

A spokesperson for President Higgins has confirmed to Donegal Live that he will make his way to Newtown after attending the funeral mass.

Books of condolences for Private Sean Rooney open across Donegal

The young soldier died while on peacekeeping duties in the Lebanon

Private Rooney, who was from Dundalk and had lived in Newtown for the last decade, will be buried with full military honours.

Private Rooney, who was on his second deployment to Lebanon, was travelling as part of a convoy of two armoured utility vehicles in the Al-Aqbieh area of south Lebanon.

The vehicles were travelling from UN Camp Shamrock to Beirut Airport with two of the party returning home on compassionate grounds.

Private Rooney's vehicle was surrounded and came under fire at around 9.15pm Irish time after entering an area controlled by Hezbollah, with the Iranian-linked Shia militia group denying involvement in the incident.

Bullets rained on the vehicle and Private Rooney was fatally wounded after being shot in the head.

His colleague, Trooper Shane Kearney, a 22-year-old from Cork, suffered blunt force trauma injuries and was flown back to Ireland on Wednesday and transferred to Beaumont Hospital in Dublin for further treatment.

Two other soldiers, who were in the convoy, received treatment for non-life-threatening injuries.