Saudi prince killed in ambush
A Saudi prince was ambushed and killed by suspected Islamic extremists while hunting gazelles in the Algerian desert, newspaper reports say.
The reports said the prince, identified as Talal ben Abdelaziz Arrashid, was shot and killed during the night of Thursday to Friday in a confrontation in which nine people were killed and several injured.
He was described as a wealthy businessman and the editor of the Saudi illustrated magazine Fawasel.
The Algerian newspapers said he was part of a group of several Saudis accompanied by Algerian security forces that had been hunting rare desert species such as gazelles and great bustards for several weeks.
The hunters’ convoy of four-wheel drive vehicles was ambushed in the Djelfa region, 250km south of Algiers, the reports said. Three Saudis and four Algerians were taken hostage and later rescued unharmed about 40km away in an operation by security forces, the daily El Khabar said.
Officials neither confirmed nor denied the reports.
Le Soir d’Algerie said the Saudi government sent a special aircraft to Algiers on Friday to take back the prince’s body.
The newspapers said the attack was probably carried out by members of the largest Islamic extremist movement in Algeria, the Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat (GSPC), which in September claimed its allegiance to al-Qaeda.
The daily L’Expression said the attackers were probably acting in accordance with “the instructions of the leader of the world Islamic terror movement, Osama Bin Laden, who has called the Saudi royal family a puppet of the Americans.”
The same group earlier this year captured 32 European trekkers in the desert and held them as hostages. Some were rescued by security forces, but 14 were eventually handed over in the Mali desert in August.
Hunting is a favourite sport of rich Saudis. Newspapers here have frequently denounced the government for permitting foreigners from the Gulf states to hunt rare and protected species in the Algerian desert.
Comment:
Another victim due to the Saudies forming alliances with America. The anger against the west and those muslims from the ruling elites who support America is growing by the day with daily attacks and abuse against their supporters. Muslim rulers must learn a lesson from this and steer well clear of America and the west and form alliances with muslims who are their brethren in faith. Islam condemns violence as a method to change and groups like Hizb ut Tahrir are working in the Islamic lands to bring about change in a peaceful manner.
