TAIF, 8 June 2008 — A suspect has been apprehended in the June 3 shooting that killed six people in Al-Sail, a community about 30 km from the western city of Taif, according to a report in yesterday’s Al-Jazirah newspaper.
The man was arrested at a checkpoint on the Jeddah-Makkah Expressway. Police found a revolver in the vehicle. It is not clear what day the arrest took place. Initial reports last week said seven other people had been injured. Yesterday’s reports put the number of injured at 15.
Five of the six dead men were brothers while the sixth was a blood relative, possibly a nephew, implying that the victims were targeted members of one family.
Eyewitnesses said that a man opened fire with a machine gun on dispute-resolution talks between two families. But one report said the dispute actually began when a man stabbed a member of another family. Police said they were looking for two brothers, one of whom was the man arrested at the checkpoint. One man was arrested immediately after the incident.
The shooting reportedly took place at a rest house that had been rented for reconciliation talks involving two families in a disputed land claim at Wadi Qiran in Al-Sail.
Several local leaders of different tribes were present at the talks to act as mediators between the two families. Reports are not clear if the families involved are members of the same tribe.
The two sides had allegedly come to an agreement on most of the points of contention shortly before Isha prayer, but then a man from one side of the dispute stabbed a man from the other side.
What happened next is not clear; either the two brothers drew their guns and opened fire or several people from both sides of the dispute — including the men suspected of starting the violence — drew their weapons and opened fire on each other.
Police arrested 20 people in connection with the shootout. The report said police do not think many of the detained men were involved with the stabbing or the initial shooting.
“The murderers, who were suspected to be brothers, escaped,” said a witness who was not named in the report. “The police who arrived at the scene shortly went after the murderers.”
Police are guarding the injured out of concern that they may become victims or perpetrators of further inter-family vengeance stemming from the shooting. Investigations continue.
Inter-tribal and inter-family reconciliation talks are common in Saudi Arabia. They are often conducted — with the help of a government committee or nongovernmental mediators — in situations related to negotiating blood money and settling land disputes.
