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Two Palestinian teens shot dead in Nablus camp raid
(AFP)
Updated: 2006-02-20 11:34
Two Palestinian teenagers have been shot dead during a massive army raid on
the Balata refugee camp near the northern West Bank city of Nablus, Palestinian
medical sources said.
Palestinian youth
runs after lobbing stones at Israeli troops during clashes triggered by a
search operation for militants and weapons in the Balata refugee camp. Two
Palestinian teenagers were shot dead during the massive army raid on the
camp near the northern West Bank city of
Nablus.[AFP] |
The two youngsters, identified as Ibrahim al-Sheikh Ali and Mohammed Natour,
both of them aged 17, died after being hit in the neck by live bullets, they
said.
Earlier Sunday, another two stonethrowers were lightly injured when troops
opened fire towards them with rubber bullets during a massive army operation
which began before dawn, medical and security sources said.
A third man, said to be a civilian, was hit in the leg by live bullets and
was being evacuated in an ambulance when troops moved in to arrest him, they
added.
Security officials said around 50 jeeps and two bulldozers backed by two
helicopters converged on the camp at around 2:00 am (0000 GMT), sealing off all
the major entrances.
A curfew was imposed and troops began conducting house-to-house searches.
Aside from the injured man, another three Palestinians were also arrested,
including a local leader of the radical Al Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades called Ahmed
Abu Ras.
Following Abu Ras' arrest, a bulldozer partially destroyed the house where he
had been caught.
The bloodshed came just hours after two Palestinian militants were killed in
an Israeli air raid on the Gaza Strip.
The lastest violence raised the overall toll since the September 2000 start
of the Palestinian uprising to 4,959, according to an AFP count. The majority
have been Palestinian
A spokeswoman for the pro-Palestinian International Solidarity Movement (ISM)
they had seen troops taking over a United Nations girls' school inside the camp.
"They entered the school with electricity generators, water and tents," Netta
Golan told AFP.
The Israeli army confirmed that an "ongoing arrest operation" was underway,
but said only one person had been arrested so far.
The spokesman had no immediate information about the fatal shootings.
"Massive riots have broken out in the area, with Palestinians throwing stones
and Molotov cocktails. Troops have responded with rubber bullets, smoke grenades
and other riot-control methods," he said.
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