Israeli Troops Kill 6, Hurt Dozens in Raid on Village
Israeli troops stormed into a West Bank village before dawn today in a search-and-arrest raid, triggering one of the bloodiest clashes in the 16-month Palestinian uprising. Six Arabs were reported killed and dozens wounded.
Maj. Gen. Amram Mitzna, the West Bank army commander, told reporters that he has ordered an investigation headed by a brigadier general into the incident in the village of Nahalin, about six miles southwest of Bethlehem.
He said about 30 border police entered Nahalin to search for Palestinians who were said to be ambushing passing Jewish cars. They encountered “exceptional violence” from about 100 Arab youths, Mitzna said.
“It is not in our interest to have casualties among the inhabitants of the West Bank,” he said.
Doctors in hospitals where Nahalin victims were taken said dozens of villagers were treated and released. Two were in critical condition with head wounds.
Two hours of hit-and-run stone-throwing attacks in Bethlehem were sparked by the overnight death of 17-year-old Daoud Khaled Nasser. He was wounded April 6 when reporters saw soldiers open fire without warning on fleeing protesters in apparent violation of army regulations.
Mohammed Mustafa, 59, a farmer from Nahalin interviewed at Mukassed hospital in Jerusalem, said, “It was a massacre.”
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