US: Shot that killed journalist likely fired from Israelis

WASHINGTON (AP) – U.S. officials say they have concluded that gunfire from Israeli positions likely killed Al Jazeera journalist Shireen Abu Akleh but that there was “no reason to believe” her shooting was intentional.

The finding, in a statement from State Department spokesman Ned Price, came Monday after what the U.S. said was inconclusive tests by independent ballistics experts under U.S. oversight of the bullet fragment recovered from Abu Akleh’s body.

Abu Akleh was shot dead during an Israeli raid in the occupied West Bank in May.

The Palestinian Authority handed over the bullet to U.S. investigators over the weekend but is opposed to any Israeli role in the investigation.