NOUAKCHOTT: A Mauritanian soldier said to have shot and wounded President Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz by misadventure on Oct. 13 has given his version of events on state television. “I was wearing a civilian T-shirt and I was with an officer, also wearing civilian clothes, when it happened,” Lt. Elhaj Ould H’Moudy said on Sunday evening when he told how he injured the head of state “by mistake.”
H’Moudy belongs to a unit responsible for training new recruits to the air force, based in the Tweila region, 40 km north of Nouakchott, where Aziz was injured.
“It was 8 p.m. (2000 GMT). I was watching the horizon (...) when I saw vehicles approaching. I then informed the garrison so it could take steps and got into my civilian vehicle with my companion to drive out and meet (the cars),” H’moudy said. “At 25 meters from them, I stopped and indicated that they should stop. The vehicle slowed down and I studied the people aboard, who were wearing turbans. I found them suspicious, indicated that they should get out under the threat of my weapon, but the vehicle drove past me and sped up.
“Then I took up my position and opened fire on them,” he added, indicating that Aziz was in the vehicle without his knowledge.
The lieutenant said that he had already been questioned by his general staff, which undertook “a reconstruction of events.” After this reconstitution, “they understood my good faith and I wasn’t troubled.”
Mauritanian soldier describes how he shot, injured president
