Palestinian teenager killed by Israeli jeep

A Palestinian teenager was knocked down and killed by an Israeli military jeep during overnight clashes in a town in the southern West Bank, Palestinian police and witnesses said on Tuesday. The youth, 19-year-old Moataz Sharawna, died after being hit by the vehicle after several hours of clashes between stone throwers and troops which began at midnight in Dura, which lies just southwest of the city of Hebron, a police spokesman told AFP. An Israel military spokeswoman confirmed an incident in the town, but said initial reports suggested soldiers had fired at a youth who had climbed onto a military vehicle. "Overnight there was an activity in Dura village near Hebron and a group of Palestinians began hurling rocks at the security forces who were in the area," she told AFP, saying several people had begun climbing onto one of the army vehicles. "(The soldiers) warned the suspects and used riot dispersal means, and finally they responded with fire towards one of the suspects who was on the vehicle," she said, without giving further details or confirming that anyone had been hit in the incident. Medics at Hebron's Alia hospital confirmed to AFP that the victim had died after being run over but said there was no immediate evidence of gunshot wounds on his body. After an autopsy was performed on his body to determine the cause of death, a funeral for Sharawna was held in Dura and attended by 5000 people, an AFP correspondent said. The body of Sharawna, who was a cadet at the Palestinian security academy in Jericho, was borne by Palestinian policemen, who also fired 21 rounds in his honour. Following Sharawna's death, shops and business were closed throughout the town as a sign of mourning, an AFP correspondent said. Sharawna's death raised to nine the number of Palestinians killed in clashes with the Israeli army in the West Bank since the start of the year, six of whom died in the Hebron area, Palestinian officials said.