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Wednesday, March 14, 2012

AFP ignores its own report; blames Israel for two child deaths from fictional airstrike (UPDATE)

From AFP:
A Gazan child died on Wednesday from wounds sustained in four days of Israeli-Palestinian violence, but a truce deal appeared to be holding, despite more rocket fire and two Israeli raids.

Gaza emergency services spokesperson Adham Abu Selmiya said Baraka al-Mughrabi, aged 7, died from severe injuries sustained during an Israeli bombing raid on Gaza City on Saturday.

The boy's death, which raised to 26 the number of Palestinians killed in four days of bloodshed, came 24 hours after Israel and militant groups in Gaza agreed to observe a ceasefire deal in a bid to end the confrontation, which saw more than 200 rockets fired at Israel.
Yet Mughrabi was injured not on Saturday, but in the same Monday morning incident that killed teenager Nayif Qarmout.

Which an AFP reporter (and photographic evidence) confirmed was not an Israeli airstrike.

AFP described the incident where Qarmout and now Mughrabi were killed as a kind of "work accident" where an explosive device carried by 15-year old Qarmout went off.  The IDF denied any strike in the area and AFP confirmed that.

It is no surprise that "Gaza medical officials" will lie and blame Israel for the deaths, but AFP reporters should presumably know what they themselves reported.

The number of victims from the airstrikes is 24, not 26, of whom 20 were terrorists (and at least one, a farmer, was effectively a human shield as Islamic Jihad terrorists were injured in the same strike.)

Sloppiness or bias?

UPDATE: Ma'an was wrong; Mughrabi was not one of the kids with Qarmout. He was killed by a terrorist bullet. From AP:
A Palestinian boy accidentally struck by a bullet when militants fired in the air during a funeral died of his injuries Wednesday, family members and witnesses said.

Palestinian health official Adham Abu Salmia initially said that 8-year-old Barka al-Mugrahbi died of wounds sustained in an Israeli airstrike on Monday.

However, Israel's military said it did not carry out a strike in the area at the time.

The boy's relatives and witnesses later said the boy was marching in the funeral procession for a Gaza militant Monday when he was struck in the head by an errant bullet.

At the time, gunmen were firing in the air, they said.
But did AP go back to Adham Abu Salmia and ask him why he lied? Will AP and other wire services keep quoting him even though they know he is a liar?