Mavi Marmara passengers "received military training in Afghanistan"

A senior officer of the Israel Defence Forces has accused the peace activists on the Mavi Marvara of being military personnel trained in Afghanistan and other countries in Asia and Eastern Europe.

The officer, quoted in the Hebrew newspaper Maariv on Sunday, claimed, “These men were trained in camps in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Indonesia and Bulgaria. We are talking about more than fifty persons in their thirties, very strong, dressed in bullet-proof vests, and equipped with night-vision goggles, masks and protective clothing.” According to the unnamed officer, blank cartridges of US origin but different to those used by Israeli forces were found on the Turkish ship when it was hijacked by Israel last week.

Competent Turkish authorities have, however, confirmed that they searched the Mavi Marmara before it set sail from Turkey and found “no weapons of any kind” on board.