Palestinian children killed in explosion

07/08/2007

Two Palestinian children have been killed in an explosion in the northern Gaza strip, it has been reported.

A brother and a sister aged eight and six years old, died when a shell or a mortar exploded, it is thought.

Some witnesses in the town of Beit said the children were playing with a dormant device when it went off, wounding eight others.

However, other reports have claimed the deaths were caused by an unexploded Palestinian rocket which fell in the area and then, later, detonated.

Iranian news sources, meanwhile, claim Israel is were responsible with an unexploded mine intended to target Palestinian militants at fault.

Those at the scene described a "huge explosion", but that – and the death of the two children - appears to be the only part of the story corroborated by the markedly different accounts which have emerged from the scene.

"We found people killed on wounded on the ground, the ambulances took them the nearby hospitals," said a witness.

The explosion of mines and rockets in the troubled area have become a daily part of life for many residents.

Fighting in Gaza earlier this year between the Fatah and Hamas factions caused scores of children to die as the internecine battle for control rumbled on.


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