'Israeli troops shot schoolgirl 20 times'

Iman al-Hams and two other girls, all of them wearing school uniforms, passed a watchtower in Rafah refugee camp near the Egyptian border, a scene of frequent violence in a 4-year-old uprising, Palestinian witnesses said.

"Israeli soldiers stormed the area, the girl left the bag and tried to run," said one. "Bullets hit the bag and then soldiers opened fire on the girl."

An Israeli military source said the girl entered an area that was clearly marked with no-entry signs at a time there had been shooting from Rafah.

Soldiers opened fire towards her after she dropped her bag and ran. They suspected that the bag contained a bomb, the source said, but had not yet checked.

"She was peppered with bullets, in the head, chest, legs," said Iman's brother, Ehab, 25.

Rafah is well away from the northern Gaza Strip, where Israeli troops have killed 67 Palestinians in a six-day-old offensive launched after a rocket fired by militants killed two children in an Israeli town.

http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=1&click_id=3&art_id=qw1096970580542B253