Playing with fire (Illustration)
צילום: אביר סולטן, דובר צה"ל
IDF probes soldier's shooting injury
IDF investigates soldier's injury by gun shots to chest, in a bid to establish whether incident is suicide or accident
Game gone bad or attempted suicide? An IDF soldier was seriously injured Wednesday by gun shots to his chest at an army base in southern Israel.
The soldier was evacuated to the Soroka Medical Center in Beer Sheva for medical treatment; the circumstances of his injury remain unclear.
An initial army inspection revealed that the soldier's rifle was found next to his body.
The military police has launched an investigation into the incident, in a bid to establish whether the man attempted to commit suicide, or whether he was wounded as a result of a shot that was accidentally fired off.
Military Police will look into other possibilities as well.
The soldier, who serves in the Transportation Command, was not known to have been involved in any irregular incidents which may account for the shooting, and did not give out any distress signals recently, army sources have reported.
The IDF's attention is now focused on the soldier's well being, an army source added.
Common phenomenon
Several dozen incidents of accidental shooting were registered in the army in the last year, some while soldiers were playing with their weapons.
A soldier at the Golani division was recently injured in his left palm during a nighttime shooting practice, after he lost his balance and tripped while performing the shooting.
In another incident, a soldier at the Mansura army camp was wounded in the leg by a bullet fired off when another soldier was playing with his rifle.
