Migrant Kicked, Beaten n Shot In Israeli

Campaigners have said they are concerned about the rise in racial prejudice as a result of the violence.

A migrant Haptom Zerhom was shot after guards mistook him for an attacker during a shooting at a bus station in the southern Israeli city of Beersheba on Sunday night.

Israel's prime minister has condemned the actions of a mob who fatally attacked an Eritrean migrant after he was mistakenly shot by a security guard.

Mr Zerhom was unconnected to the shooting, which was carried out by a Bedouin man, who killed an Israeli soldier, took his weapon and opened fire on the crowds, wounding nine people.

Graphic footage shows Mr Zerhom being kicked and beaten by the crowd as he lay on the ground in a pool of blood after being shot.

Mr Zerhom died in hospital hours later.

Nitza Neuman-Heiman, from Soroka Hospital, said he died from both gunshot wounds to the abdomen and the injuries sustained during the attacks by bystanders.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said "no one should take the law into their own hands".  Emmanuel Nahshon, an Israeli foreign ministry spokesman, said his death was the result of "a dreadful misunderstanding".

"We believe that all Israelis should help as much as they can in order to make our streets a safer place against Palestinian terror," he said.

"But by killing an innocent person I think that we have done just the opposite and this is something that certainly should not happen."

Mr Zerhom had been in Beersheba to renew his Israeli visa, according to his employer at a plant nursery.

Sagi Malachi said: "It is heart-breaking. All in all I think that he was in the wrong place at the wrong time."