JEDDAH, 13 March 2007 — Security forces located the green Nissan Safari used in the Feb. 26 murder of four French nationals about 90 km north of Madinah, the Interior Ministry announced yesterday.
“Security officers have found the vehicle used in the attack,” said Maj. Gen. Mansour Al-Turki in a statement.
Security officials did not say where or when the vehicle was found, but officials have reiterated that they are conducting a vigorous investigation to catch the people responsible for the cold-blooded killing of four unarmed civilians living under the protection of the Kingdom.
Regarding various reports about the motive behind the killings, Gen. Al-Turki told Arab News: “We can’t determine the motive until we get the suspects and until the investigations are complete.”
Three men and a 17-year-old boy were gunned down when assailants in the green Nissan Safari opened fire on a group of nine who were lost after visiting the archaeological site of Madain Saleh, considered to be an important tourism asset in the Kingdom. Two of the men in the group died on the spot. A third man died a day later in hospital. The fourth victim was a 17-year-old boy who also died after arrival to a hospital to remove a bullet.
On March 6, the ministry called on Nasser Latef Al-Balawi and Abdullah Sayer Al-Muhammadi to surrender but both failed to meet the deadline to turn themselves in and were declared fugitives from the law. Authorities have detained an unspecified number of other suspects in the investigation.
Asharq Al-Awsat newspaper reported that relatives of the two men have been detained for questioning. An uncle of Al-Muhammadi claims the two men have been missing since the attack.
The Saudi Foreign Ministry last week sent a warning letter to all foreign missions in the Kingdom urging their citizens to take additional caution.
“As soon as we received the warning letter we informed our nationals in the Kingdom of the new threat on the embassy’s website and via SMS text messages,” Alian Guepratte, second secretary at the French Embassy, told Arab News in a previous interview. The US and British embassies have reiterated travel warnings to their citizens living in the Kingdom.
