RAMALLAH: An Israeli settler shot dead a 16-year-old Palestinian youth after his car was stoned in the occupied West Bank, Palestinian security sources and activists said on Friday.
Ayssar Yasser Al-Zaben, 16, from Mazra ash Sharqiya, near Ramallah, died on the spot, security sources said. Earlier they said he was 14.
Youths were throwing stones towards Route 60 when a settler got out of his car and shot in their direction, pro-Palestinian activists said.
The youths ran away, unaware that Zaben, "who wasn’t with them and did not participate in the stone throwing, was hit," the Popular Struggle Coordination Committee said in a statement.
"According to his uncle, his lifeless body was found lying face down on the ground with a bullet hole in his back," it said.
Doctors at Ramallah hospital said the bullet reached his heart.
Israelis who were driving by at the time called the police when they saw the man open fire with an assault rifle, the YNet News website said.
Israeli police said the teenager’s death was being investigated.
A military spokesman said "shots were fired after stones were thrown at an Israeli car," and stressed the army was not involved.
Israeli settlers, many of whom are armed, often open fire at Palestinians who hurl stones at them.
