Child dies in Israeli gun battle with militants
Six Palestinian gunmen and an 11-year-old girl were killed during a fierce firefight with Israeli soldiers in the West Bank town of Nablus today.
The army surrounded a building where wanted militants were holed up, and a gun battle erupted, Palestinian witnesses said.
Security officials said six militants from the Al Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades were killed. Among those killed was Nader Aswad, a local leader who was on Israel’s most-wanted list. Al Aqsa is a violent group loosely linked to Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat’s Fatah movement.
An 11-year-old girl was also killed, hospital officials said. The circumstances of her death were not immediately clear.
Basma Masri, a Nablus resident, said she spoke to her son, who was one of the armed men in the house, during the exchange of fire. Masri said her son told her that he and his five friends had run out of ammunition.
