Gunmen kidnap one Palestinian civilian near Bethlehem

Wednesday June 27, 2007 07:56 by Ghassan Bannoura - IMEMC News

A group of unknown gunmen kidnapped a resident of Beit Sahour town, located near Bethlehem city in the southern part of the West Bank, on Tuesday night.

Witnesses told IMEMC that a group of gunmen said to be Aqsa brigades of Fatah attacked Baha Antar and his fiends as they stood in the street near the Beit Sahour police station in the town's center.

The gunmen injured two young men who attempted to stop them gunmen from kidnapping Antar. Both sustained light wounds.

Shortly after the attack, scores of Beit Sahour residents gathered at the scene and demanded that the Antar be released. Fatah leaders in the town, along with Mr. Hani Al Hayik, the Mayor of Beit Sahour, managed to secure the man’s release by dawn.

When asked by IMEMC, Antar said that his kidnapers had assaulted and beat him up. Witnesses also told IMEMC that local Palestinian police officers witnessed the attack but did nothing to intervene.

bethlehem | internal unrest | news report ghassanb at imemc dot org