World News | Israeli Army Says Soldier Likely Killed Al-Jazeera Reporter

Jerusalem, Sep 5 (AP) The Israeli military said Monday a soldier likely killed a veteran Al Jazeera journalist in errant fire, according to its investigation into the incident.

A senior military official said the military's top legal officer will not be launching a criminal probe into the incident, meaning neither the soldier nor anyone in his chain of command will face punishment.

Also Read | Liz Truss, British PM-Elect, Committed to ‘Sweet Spot’ of India-UK Strategic and Economic Ties.

Shireen Abu Akleh was killed in May while covering Israeli military raids in the occupied West Bank.

The Palestinians blamed Israel for the killing. Israel initially said she may have been killed by militant fire, but later said a soldier may have hit her by mistake during an exchange of fire.

Also Read | Who Is Liz Truss? Quick Facts You Need to Know About the New UK Prime Minister and Conservative Party Leader.

In a briefing to reporters, the official said the military could not conclusively determine where the fire emanated from, saying there may have been Palestinian gunmen in the same area as the Israeli soldier.

But he said the soldier killed the journalist “with very high likelihood” and did so by mistake. The official did not explain why witness accounts and videos showed limited militant activity in the area, as well as no gunfire in the vicinity until the barrage that struck Abu Akleh and wounded another reporter.

The results of the probe, announced nearly four months after the killing, largely align with those of several independent investigations completed much earlier. (AP)

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)