'Baby bomber' pic provokes angry reaction

Palestinians reacted angrily today to claims a picture of a baby dressed as a suicide bomber was taken from a wanted man’s home in the West Bank.

Israeli troops said they found the photograph while searching the house of suspected militant in Hebron.

"This is cheap Israeli propaganda," said Palestinian Information Minister Yasser Abed Rabbo.

"They are using this photo to justify Israeli crimes against the Palestinian people and to go on with their occupation of the Palestinian territories."

The Israeli army today refused to take media to the house where the picture was found, a spokesman said it was impossible because Hebron was a "closed military zone".

In the picture, the baby has explosives and bullet belts strapped to its body, and a Rambo style headband bearing the name of the Islamic militant group Hamas.

The baby, who appeared to be about 12 to 18-months-old, had blue eyes and dark blond hair.

"These photos can easily be forged and distributed, and this has been done by the Israeli media several times before," Rabbo said.

The Israeli army did not release the name of the family or say whether it thought the explosives were real.

Palestinian sources said the picture was found yesterday when soldiers raided the Hebron home of the Abutork family.

The family refused to comment today but the Israeli public reacted with outrage. They have suffered 71 suicide bomb attacks in the last 21 months of fighting.

"It symbolises the incitement and hatred which the Palestinian leadership has been using to brainwash an entire generation of Palestinian children who have unfortunately taken in this message like mother’s milk," said Dore Gold, an official in Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s office.

A Palestinian journalist in Hebron said she did not believe the picture was a fake and expressed surprise at the media attention it had received.

"I can find you many, many photos like this," she said. "In our society it happens a lot. It is a kind of phenomenon," she said, adding that blue eyes were not rare in Hebron.

Pictures of older children dressed up as suicide bombers are not uncommon.

At a Hamas rally in the Gaza Strip today, a boy aged about 10 was seen wearing fake explosives around his waist.