Soldiers Fire on Palestinians; 1 Killed, 4 Hurt

Israeli soldiers opened fire on Palestinian demonstrators in a West Bank village today, killing one with a shot through the heart and wounding four others, Arab reports and hospital officials said.

The army confirmed that soldiers fatally shot one Arab and wounded four in clashes in the village of Shuyukh, northeast of the city of Hebron, bringing to at least 55 the number of Palestinians killed in the current unrest.

Two officers opened fire after more than 100 Shuyukh residents attacked an army patrol with stones and bottles, said an officer in Shuyukh.

Doctors at Alia Hospital in Hebron said a 25-year-old Shuyukh resident was killed by a shot that pierced the heart. The Palestine Press Service identified him as Ismail Mohammed Hussein and said he was 19.

Gunshot Wounds, Beatings

Alia doctors also said they treated four Shuyukh residents for gunshot wounds in the legs and arms and four women for beating injuries.

One of the wounded, Khaled Abu Rumei, told reporters from his hospital bed that soldiers entered the village about 5 a.m. to round up suspected agitators.

“They started breaking into houses and taking people away,” Rumei’s mother said, adding that soldiers clubbed her when she tried to stop them from detaining one of her sons.

The army declared the village a closed military area, and soldiers turned back reporters who went to the scene early in the afternoon.

The army, meanwhile, clamped a curfew on the nearby village of Siir, the site of frequent anti-Israeli protests.