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- Written by Associated Press in Ramallah Associated Press in Ramallah
- Published: 15 January 2013 15 January 2013
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Doctors say teenager killed near West Bank separation barrier, named as Samir Awad, 17, was shot in head, back and chest
• guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 15 January 2013 09.40 EST
The Israeli separation barrier in the West Bank. Photograph: Uriel Sinai/Getty Images
Israeli soldiers shot dead a 17-year-old Palestinian near the West Bank separation barrier on Tuesday, Palestinians said. The Israeli military said he had breached the barrier separating the soldiers from protesters.
A classmate said a group of students went to the barrier – a line of walls, trenches and fences that Israel has built along and inside the West Bank – to throw stones at the soldiers. Muataz Awad said the soldiers opened fire, killing the teenager, named as Samir Awad from the village of Boudrous.
Doctors at Ramallah hospital said the teenager was shot three times, in the head, back and chest. They spoke anonymously according to regulations.
The military confirmed soldiers had opened fire on protesters, saying some had cut through a section of the barrier fence. A military spokesman, Captain Eytan Buchman, said troops "initiated standard rules of engagement, which included live fire".
An investigation has been ordered, and Buchman said he could not comment further on the open-fire order.
Elsewhere on the West Bank, about 50 Palestinian gunmen blocked the main road leading into the Balata refugee camp with burning tyres to protest against repeated attempts by Palestinian security forces to disarm them.
The gunmen have links to the Fatah movement, led by the Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas. The recent protests have drawn attention to growing discontent with his rule.