Troops Mistakenly Kill Arab Mayor’s Guard

Soldiers shot and killed two Palestinians on Saturday, including an armed man trying to protect an Israeli-appointed official under attack by masked villagers.

In the Tulkarm refugee camp in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, soldiers shot and killed a 14-year-old Palestinian boy and wounded at least two others during violent clashes, Palestinian and hospital sources said. The army confirmed the boy’s death and reportedly imposed a curfew on the camp.

At least three other Palestinians were wounded during scattered disturbances in the occupied territories, the sources said.

Arab reporters said troops shot Yasser Hammad Karaish, 28, a bodyguard for Ismael abu Hemeid, the Israeli-appointed mayor of the West Bank village of Yatta, 8 miles south of Jerusalem.

The reporters said Karaish was armed with an Uzi submachine gun, which he was licensed to carry, and was protecting the mayor from a crowd of young Palestinian nationalists throwing rocks at Hemeid’s home and accusing him of collaboration.

Israeli troops arriving at the scene shortly after midnight saw an armed Palestinian in front of Hemeid’s home, and he reportedly opened fire on them. They returned fire before realizing it was Karaish, Arab reporters said.

“He thought he was being attacked,” a military official said. “The soldiers reacted and returned fire.”

An army spokesman said the military has sealed off the village and is investigating.

Two other people from Yatta also were reported by residents to have been wounded in the incident, according to state-run Israel Radio. In recent months, at least two Yatta residents suspected of working with or collaborating with Israeli authorities have been killed.

Arab reporters identified the 14-year-old boy slain in the Tulkarm refugee camp as Ali Ibrahim Shariefah Kenaan.

Police said an Arab teen-ager in the city of Hebron died when a gas cylinder in a shop he had broken into exploded.