A Palestinian teenager whose abduction and murder caused violent protests was burned alive, autopsy reports show, as clashes over the killing spread Saturday from east Jerusalem to Arab Israeli towns.
Mohammed Abu Khder, 16, was abducted from his Shuafat neighbourhood in occupied east Jerusalem early Wednesday, and his charred body found not long afterwards in a west Jerusalem forest.
Palestinians said Jewish extremists killed him in revenge for the kidnapping and murder in the West Bank last month of three Israeli teenagers.
Palestinian news agency Maan quoted Attorney General Mohammed Aluweiwi on Saturday as saying the initial findings of a post-mortem indicated the presence of smoke in the boy’s lungs, meaning he was still alive while being burned.
Abu Khder also suffered a head wound, but that was not the cause of death, Aluweiwi added.
Israeli police said they still could not confirm the motive for Abu Khder’s murder.
A spokeswoman told AFP police were investigating “all possibilities”, and that there was a gag order on all details of the investigation.
The teenager’s funeral on Friday, attended by thousands of mourners, was accompanied by clashes across Israeli-annexed Arab east Jerusalem, the third straight day of violence since his body was found.
Published in The Express Tribune, July 6th, 2014.
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