Suspected police killer beaten to death

The alleged ringleader in the killing of two Palestinian policemen has died in custody after being beaten by security forces, a senior local official said on Tuesday.

The officers were killed in the West Bank city of Nablus last week when gunmen opened fire on security forces.

Two of the gunmen died in the subsequent shootout.

Ahmed Halawa, the alleged leader of the attackers, was arrested by police overnight and taken to the city’s Jneid prison, Nablus governor Akram Rajub told the official Palestinian news agency WAFA.

Once there, he was severely beaten by security personnel, lost consciousness and later died, Rajub said.

“We’ll examine the incident and draw lessons from it,” he said.

Hamas, which runs the Gaza Strip and is a bitter rival of the Fatah-run Palestinian Authority ruling the West Bank, condemned Halawa’s “execution”.

It said it showed “the bloody nature of the Palestinian Authority’s security services.”

Hamas and Fatah are due to contest municipal elections across the Palestinian territories in October.

Amnesty International has accused Palestinian security forces of routinely mistreating prisoners, with torture common and committed with impunity.

Under the 1993 Oslo accords with Israel, Palestinian police are only authorised to operate in 18 percent of the occupied West Bank, encompassing most of the major Palestinian towns, including Nablus.

The northern West Bank has seen a number of Palestinian police raids in recent months. The area has witnessed factional infighting within the ruling Fatah movement of Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas.

Awka—AN 18 –seater bus built from scratch by former Niger Delta militants trained at Innoson Kiara Academy, an arm of Innoson Motor Manufacturing Company, Nnewi, is to be delivered to President Muhammadu Buhari through the Presidential Adviser on Amnesty Programme, General Paul Boroh (retd). The bus was on display at Innoson Motors and the Niger Delta trainees were elated that the federal government provided them the opportunity to acquire skills that had changed their lives for the better. The donation of the bus to the President formed part of the graduation ceremony of 120 Niger Delta youths at Innoson Motors, Nnewi, who spent nine months training in the areas of auto mechanics, auto electrical, auto welding, auto painting and spraying, heavy duty truck maintenance, ICT, engineering drawing, entrepreneurial and interpersonal skills. Boroh, who handed them certificates at the impressive ceremony said the Presidential Amnesty Programme would collaborate with Innoson to ensure that all of them were fully set up to contribute their quota towards nation-building. Officials of Innoson Motors had earlier promised to employ the trainees on a starting monthly salary of N40,000 considering the quality of skills they had acquired. Boroh, who flagged off the training nine months ago, told them at the graduation: “You have been on this training for nine months and we hope you are well –equipped now. The skills you have acquired will never be allowed to waste even a day. “It is not easy to employ people these days and that is why we are grateful to Chief Innocent Chukwuma for promising to employ all those who are interested in working in the company. “Having learnt the job, you are on your way towards becoming successful entrepreneurs. Modalities for the formation of the clusters where you will practice what you have learnt are already out.” According to Boroh, the graduates would be encouraged to set up cooperative societies to enable them reap the full benefits of their training.