[GrileVege]

Jun 6, 2010

ISRAELI FLOTILLA RAID
Victims shot multiple times

ISTANBUL - THE nine men killed during an Israeli navy raid on a Turkish ship carrying aid to Gaza were shot a total of 30 times, the head of the state forensics laboratory said on Saturday. Most of the victims, who were all Turkish, were shot at close range with what may have been pistols, Haluk Ince, chairman of the Forensic Medicine Council, told Reuters. 'The deaths of all nine were caused by bullets from firearms,' he said. 'One body had two bullets in the arm, one in the back and one in the knee. In another patient, there was only one bullet: right in centre his brow.'

Two of the men were shot five times, while one was hit six times, according to the autopsies performed by the forensics lab. Five people were shot in the head, Mr Ince said. He declined to name which victims were shot how many times. Witnesses have described scenes of chaos when Israeli commandos stormed the Mavi Marmara, a Turkish ship that was part of a six-vessel convoy carrying hundreds of pro-Palestinian activists who planned to break a three-year blockade on Gaza.

Abid Mahi, 30, a British volunteer on the Mavi Marmara, told Reuters he heard something whizz past his right ear from behind and, an instant later, saw a man in front of him collapse and, Mr Mahi believes, die. 'It wasn't a raid, it was an attack,' he said. Israel has said its soldiers were acting in self-defence once they intercepted the ship and passengers on the Mavi Marmara attacked them, posing a threat to their lives. Soldiers carried paintball guns and only used their back-up pistols as a last resort, the government has said. Besides those killed, 24 people are being treated in a hospital in the capital Ankara. Seven are in critical condition, according to physicians. -- REUTERS