Egypt officer ‘shot dead Israeli Bedouin teenager’

JERUSALEM: An Israeli Bedouin teenager shot dead while working along the Egyptian border appears to have been killed by Egyptian forces in error, an Israeli source said Wednesday.

Nimr Abu Ammar from the southern town of Laqiya was shot on Tuesday as the 15-year-old took part in maintenance work on the border fence.

The Israeli Army had initially said that the “shooting does not appear to be connected to terror activities,” without providing further details.

An Israeli official speaking on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the issue told AFP the shooter was a member of the Egyptian security forces, who apparently mistook the youth for a militant.

According to the official, initial findings showed that the work was taking place in a “no-man’s land” where there are “quiet understandings with the Egyptians regarding the Israeli presence there.”

The official said the initial findings showed that an Egyptian officer at the site “mistakenly thought the boy was planting a mine” — while he in fact was making coffee for the crew of Israeli laborers and his father, who was working there.