JEDDAH: Ziyad Al-Sheikh, one of the two survivors of Monday’s attack on six Saudi nationals in Niger on Monday, told the Arabic daily Al-Eqtisadiah in a report published on Thursday that three armed men driving a black Jeep attacked while the men were performing Fajr prayer.
In an interview conducted from a hospital bed at the Armed Forces Hospital in Riyadh, Al-Sheikh said the men’s Malian driver, who was not hurt in the armed assault, took the two survivors to a hospital in the Nigerien capital of Niamey.
Al-Sheikh described the events that led to the attack: “We were driving on a road near Niamey on our way to neighboring Mali when we passed an inhabited village at which we did not stop. Three kilometers from there we heard the Azan calling for the Fajr prayer so we stopped to do the prayer and to continue our journey afterwards. At the very moment while we were spreading the rugs to say the prayer, a black Jeep with three armed men stopped near us and besieged us. The armed men got down and started searching our car. They took our money and mobile phones. Then they took us to a place with trees far away from the road. They took us out of the car and started shooting at us. I received the first bullet but luckily I survived. They shot at my colleagues one after the other. Four of them died on the spot and two of us were injured. Only the driver was unhurt.”
Al-Sheikh said he phoned the Saudi Embassy telling officials what had happened.
Al-Sheikh conveyed his condolences to the families of all those killed and said he was happy that a government committee was formed to follow up their case.
He also revealed that his nephew died in a car accident while on his way from Riyadh to Al-Ahsa to attend the burial ceremony of his four colleagues who died in the incident.
Al-Sheikh, the other injured man and the four bodies were airlifted to Riyadh on board a special medical evacuation aircraft ordered by Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah.
