AL QUDS, June 3: The Israeli army “eliminated” 15 Palestinian police officers at West Bank checkpoints in 2002 as revenge for the deaths of six Israeli soldiers killed by a Palestinian militant, Israeli press reported on Friday. According to a graphic investigative report published in the Israeli daily newspaper Maariv, the Feb 19, 2002 “revenge operation” was carried out jointly by an elite paratroopers and a top level corps of military engineers.

“The army admitted to a revenge attack using special combat units and the result was the elimination of 15 Palestinian police officers,” Maariv reported. The attack was launched just hours after six Israeli soldiers were shot — some while lying in their beds — by a Palestinian gunman at the Ein Arik checkpoint near Ramallah, the newspaper said.

“The Palestinian Authority was involved in terrorism and was therefore a legitimate target. We were forced to retaliate after what happened at Ein Arik,” a military source quoted by the paper said.

“An officer told us that this was about revenge and that we were going to kill police officers,” said one soldier involved in the operation against several Palestinian-manned checkpoints.

“He ordered us to shower the checkpoints where the Palestinian police officers were because they had helped the terrorists,” said the soldier, identified only as “D.”

The soldier confirmed participating in an ambush near a checkpoint where “seven or eight” Palestinian police were located.

“I opened fire on one of them, and my comrades shot at the others. I riddled him with bullets, and my gunfire cut off his legs,” the soldier said.

“Then I finished him off and when I went to look I saw he was about 50 years old. He was short and heavyset with a mustache. His body was filled with bullets,” the soldier recounted.—AFP