Israel: Initial probe into reporter's death is inconclusive

Journalists surround the body of Shireen Abu Akleh, a journalist for Al Jazeera network, into the morgue inside the Hospital in the West Bank town of Jenin. Pic/PTI

The Israeli military says its initial probe into the killing of an Al Jazeera journalist this week was unable to determine whether she was struck by Israeli or Palestinian gunfire.

In a statement Friday, issued as Shireen Abu Akleh was to be laid to rest in Jerusalem, the military said it was unable to determine who fired the fatal shot during a military raid in the occupied West Bank town of Jenin two days earlier.

It said Palestinian gunmen were active in the area and fired repeatedly and recklessly toward an Israeli military vehicle about 200 meters (yards) from where she was hit, and that Israeli soldiers returned fire.

The military says that without conducting ballistic analysis on the bullet that killed her, it is unable to determine who fired it. The Palestinian Authority, which has the bullet, has accused Israel of deliberately killing Abu Akleh and has refused Israel's calls for a joint investigation.

Palestinian reporters who were with Abu Akleh at the time said there were no Palestinian gunmen or clashes in the immediate area.

The military says "the conclusion of the interim investigation is that it is not possible to determine the source of the fire that hit and killed the reporter."

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