JEDDAH — The death of Siham and Miral, the wife and daughter of Abdul Rahman Al-Zahrani, an employee at the Saudi Embassy in Chad, took place in a bomb attack while his family was staying at the ambassador’s residence awaiting evacuation.
“Siham was feeding her youngest child Miral in the second floor of the residence at the time of attack,” said Muhammad Al-Zahrani, Siham’s brother, speaking about last week’s bomb attack that engulfed the residence of Ambassador Adel Arif. The attack occurred when Chadian rebels seized the capital city after intense fighting with government forces.
Mazoun and Ahmed, Siham’s two surviving children, did not know what had happened to their mother and young sister as they were playing in the ground floor of the building. Abdul Rahman had reportedly asked his wife to come down from the second floor with the child, but she preferred to continue feeding the child before a bomb fell on the room where they were staying and snatched away their lives.
Mazoun and two-year-old Ahmed sustained injuries from the explosion, with Ahmed receiving the most as he was inside the room. Ahmed is still receiving treatment at King Faisal Specialist Hospital in Riyadh while her sister Mazoun has left hospital.
Four-year-old Mazoun knew that her mother had died in the incident but she still believes that her mother would return one day.
“When we ask Mazoun about her mother, she replies ‘She has gone to Allah and will come back soon’,” her uncle said.
