[W]itnesses said Mohammed a-Sa’afin, a local leader of the Islamic Jihad militant group, took to the roof of his home after Israeli special forces surrounded it. “Give up, think of your children,” an Israeli officer shouted at him. Sa’afin replied with pipe bombs and a volley of bullets from his Kalashnikov rifle. He was shot dead.
Palestinian witnesses and hospital officials said six other Palestinians were killed in the fighting, including a 13-year-old boy and a four-year-old girl, whose age medical officials initially put at two. At least 12 people were wounded. [Reuters, 3/18/03]
