Woman shot for stabbing soldier

2005-10-04 22:54

Nablus - Israeli soldiers shot dead a Palestinian mother of five on Tuesday at a checkpoint in the northern West Bank after she stabbed a female soldier in the face, said sources on both sides.

An Israeli army spokesperson said the woman was shot after arriving at the Hawarah checkpoint, south of the town of Nablus, wielding a knife and slashing an Israeli female soldier across the face.

She said: "During an attempt to control the Palestinian ... thinking she might stab someone else, the force opened fire at the lower part of her body. The Palestinian woman was wounded."

Palestinian medical sources said the 36-year-old married mother of five, Haifa Hindiya, died of her wounds as she was being treated.

Lightly injured

An army spokesperson said the soldier was lightly to moderately wounded and evacuated to an Israeli hospital.

The attack came on the first day of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan and as Israelis celebrated the Jewish New Year.

Hindiya's death raised to 4 841 the overall number of people killed since the start of the Palestinian uprising five years ago, most of them Palestinians.

On Friday, Israeli troops shot dead a Palestinian teenager near Nablus after an army patrol opened fire on a group of people in the Askar refugee camp.

The military had opened an enquiry into that killing.

- AFP