12 Palestinian civilians abducted as Israeli army invades several parts of West Bank

Monday March 26, 2007 13:08 by Ghassan Bannoura - IMEMC & Agencies

The Israeli army invaded several parts of the West Bank and abducted at least 12 civilians, among them one child, on Monday morning.

The abductions were focused on the cities of Ramallah in the central West Bank, where three civilians were taken, and Hebron city in the southern West Bank where seven were taken.

In Hebron city soldiers attacked and searched residents' houses located in downtown Hebron and in the old city area. Eyewitnesses stated that soldiers forces all families outside during the search. Seven civilians were taken to unknown detention camps. The Israeli army claimed that during the search, troops found one hunting rifle in one of the searched houses and that they abducted the owner.

In the northern part of the West Bank, Israeli troops abducted two shepherd boys while they were herding their sheep near Burak village, west of Nablus city. The two boys, Mohamed Hija, 14, and Nafi' Salah, 15, were herding the sheep on the village land when troops took them by surprise and abducted them, eyewitnesses reported.

Nafi' was released later. He stated that soldiers took them to the nearby settlement of Arial were they abused and beat them before letting him go and keeping Mohamed captive. He stated the soldiers claimed that Nafi' and his friend hurled Molotov cocktail bombs at the army.

Later on Monday morning, Israeli troops stationed at Al Hamra military checkpoint located in the Jordan valley abducted a Palestinian civilian who was passing through the checkpoint. Eyewitnesses reported that soldiers stopped the man, took his identity card, then handcuffed him and took him away in an army vehicle. No name was issued.

west bank | israeli attacks | news report ghassanb at imemc dot org