Three Israeli teenagers who were abducted by Palestinians in the West Bank last month were shot at least 10 times with a silenced gun in what appeared to be premeditated killings, a U.S. official involved in the investigation said. One of the teens, 16-year-old Naftali Fraenkel, also held American citizenship.
A U.S. official involved in the probe said the FBI, whose mandate includes Americans abducted abroad, received a recording of the distress call from Israel within days and sent it for audio analysis in the United States.
Distorted, tinny reports heard on the tape after an Arabic-accented male voice shouts “Head down!” in response to one boy’s attempt to raise the alarm were found to be consistent with shots from a silenced firearm, the U.S. official said.
“There were 10 gunshots,” added the official, who spoke to Reuters on condition of anonymity. The use of a silencer led U.S. investigators to believe the captors planned to kill the three teenagers from the outset, the U.S. official said.
{Andy Heller-Matzav.com Newscenter}
