Prince Mohammed bin Nayef, a Saudi royal family member who heads the kingdom’s anti-terror fight, escaped little harmed from a suicide bomb attack in Jeddah, official news agency SPA said yesterday.
The deputy interior minister suffered only superficial injuries after the suicide bomber got close to him and detonated his explosives on Thursday evening, the agency said, quoting a royal court statement.
The Saudi wing of al-Qaeda was swift in claiming responsibility.
In a statement posted on an Islamist Web site late on Thursday, al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula said it was behind the bomb, according to US-based monitoring group, SITE Intelligence.
The bomber was the only casualty. Prince Mohammed was receiving guests at the end of the day’s fasting during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, SPA said.
The royal court said the bomber was a wanted terrorist who had approached the prince under the pretext he wanted to give himself up.
He detonated his device while he was undergoing security checks, it said.
Saudi television showed images of the prince after the attack. SPA posted a photo of him receiving King Abdullah at the hospital. The anti-terror chief did not seem affected by his ordeal and the only bandage was on the middle finger of his left hand.
Prince Mohammed is the son of long time Interior Minister Prince Nayef bin Abdul Aziz, who has been in office since 1975. He serves as the minister’s assistant for security affairs.
This was the first high-profile al-Qaeda attack against the government since militants rammed a car bomb into the fortified interior ministry in Riyadh in 2004. It was also the first strike on a member of the royal family since al-Qaeda launched a wave of attacks in the kingdom in 2003, targeting Western establishments and oil facilities and leaving more that 150 Saudis and foreigners dead. Authorities in Saudi Arabia, home of al-Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden and 15 out of 19 hijackers who carried out the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the US, responded by killing scores of the organization’s militants and rounding up hundreds more.
Earlier this month, Saudi authorities announced the arrest of 44 high-profile al-Qaeda operatives with large caches of arms.
CHAGOS ISLANDS: Recently elected Mauritian Prime Minister Navin Ramgoolam told lawmakers that the contents of negotiations are ‘unknown’ to the government Mauritius’ new prime minister ordered an independent review of a deal with the UK involving a strategically important US-UK military base in the Indian Ocean, placing the agreement under fresh scrutiny. Under a pact signed last month, the UK ceded sovereignty of the Chagos archipelago to Mauritius, while retaining control of Diego Garcia — the island where the base is situated. The deal was signed by then-Mauritian prime minister Pravind Jugnauth and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer on Oct. 3 — a month before elections in Mauritius in which Navin Ramgoolam became premier. “I have asked for an independent review of the
France on Friday showed off to the world the gleaming restored interior of Notre-Dame cathedral, a week before the 850-year-old medieval edifice reopens following painstaking restoration after the devastating 2019 fire. French President Emmanuel Macron conducted an inspection of the restoration, broadcast live on television, saying workers had done the “impossible” by healing a “national wound” after the fire on April 19, 2019. While every effort has been made to remain faithful to the original look of the cathedral, an international team of designers and architects have created a luminous space that has an immediate impact on the visitor. The floor shimmers and
THIRD IN A ROW? An expert said if the report of a probe into the defense official is true, people would naturally ask if it would erode morale in the military Chinese Minister of National Defense Dong Jun (董軍) has been placed under investigation for corruption, a report said yesterday, the latest official implicated in a crackdown on graft in the country’s military. Citing current and former US officials familiar with the situation, British newspaper the Financial Times said that the investigation into Dong was part of a broader probe into military corruption. Neither the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs nor the Chinese embassy in Washington replied to a request for confirmation yesterday. If confirmed, Dong would be the third Chinese defense minister in a row to fall under investigation for corruption. A former navy
‘VIOLATIONS OF DISCIPLINE’: Miao Hua has come up through the political department in the military and he was already fairly senior before Xi Jinping came to power in 2012 A member of China’s powerful Central Military Commission has been suspended and put under investigation, the Chinese Ministry of National Defense said on Thursday. Miao Hua (苗華) was director of the political work department on the commission, which oversees the People’s Liberation Army (PLA), the world’s largest standing military. He was one of five members of the commission in addition to its leader, Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平). Ministry spokesman Colonel Wu Qian (吳謙) said Miao is under investigation for “serious violations of discipline,” which usually alludes to corruption. It is the third recent major shakeup for China’s defense establishment. China in June
RSS