Israeli troops kill boy with toy gun

Israeli troops patrolling shot dead a 13-year-old Palestinian boy with a toy gun today, apparently mistaking him for a gunman about to open fire at them.

Relatives of Salahadin Abu Mohsen said he was with a group of children and youths taunting and throwing rocks at the soldiers the West Bank village of Tubas when he raised a home-made toy gun put together from metal scraps, and aimed it at the troops.

A soldier shot the boy, they said, and he was pronounced dead at the hospital in the nearby town of Jenin.

The Israeli military said a large crowd of people had gathered and were beginning to riot when troops spotted what appeared to be a gunman in the crowd and fired.