http://www.foxnews.com/world/2010/06/04/israeli-commando-shot-activists-aid-convoy-line-medal/"Six of the nine passengers killed in an Israeli raid on an aid convoy bound for Gaza were shot by a single Israeli commando, who is being considered for a medal of valor for saving his injured comrades as passengers attacked them with clubs, knives and even guns they had taken from downed Navy Seals.
Fresh details of the controversial raid, which has led to accusations of "piracy" and "state terrorism" being leveled against Israel, and which wrecked its strategic partnership with Turkey, emerged yesterday. There were reports that passengers who attacked the Israeli boarding party had been dragging three captured commandos into the hold of the ship when the shooting broke out.
And a British passenger who witnessed the deadly pre-dawn encounter in international waters said that some of the more peaceful activists on board had tried to protect captured Israeli soldiers being set upon by a hard core of passengers, most of them believed to be Turks linked to an Islamic charity accused by Israel of having links to extremists.
The Israeli commando who killed six of the passengers of Mavi Marmara, the Turkish ferry owned by the IHH charity, said that he had been the last of 15 soldiers to rappel down the rope from an overhead helicopter on to the decks of the ship, which he described as "a battlefield."
Identified for security reasons only as Staff Sergeant S, he said that contrary to initial Israeli Army reports, the shooting had started within minutes as he and his comrades were set upon by a "mob of mercenaries."
As he landed on the ship's top deck, he said he saw three of his superior officers who had landed ahead of him lying wounded, one with a bullet wound to the stomach, another shot in the knee and the third beaten unconscious.
Taking charge, he formed his men in a perimeter around the wounded, pulled his 9mm Glock pistol and opened fire on passengers he accused of shooting at the boarding party with guns taken off the first soldiers, who had been overwhelmed as they landed one by one.
"When I hit the deck, I was immediately attacked by people with bats, metal pipes and axes," the sergeant recalled. "These were without a doubt terrorists. I could see the murderous rage in their eyes and that they were coming to kill us."
He said he saw one of the passengers holding a seized pistol to another Israeli commando's head."
Topic: Israeli Commando Who Shot Six Activists in Aid Convoy in Line for Medal! (Read 574 times)