RIYADH: The gunman suspected of killing an American in Saudi Arabia’s capital had no known links to “extremist” organisations, the interior ministry said, as Washington sought clarification about the killer’s motive. Abdulaziz Fahad Abdulaziz Alrashid, 24, the alleged shooter who authorities say was wounded in a gunfight with security forces, is a US-born Saudi who had been fired from US defence contractor Vinnell Arabia, an interior ministry spokesman said in a statement. The dead American and another US national who was wounded also worked for Vinnell Arabia, which trains the Saudi Arabian National Guard, the spokesman said. “The security services have no proof that (the killer) had prior links with extremist organisations,” he said in a statement carried by the official Saudi Press Agency. An investigation into the motive for the shooting is continuing, he added. The attack occurred on Tuesday at a petrol station in eastern Riyadh.
Gunmen assassinate Syria MP
DAMASCUS: Unidentified gunmen assassinated Syrian parliament member Waris Al Yunis in the central province of Hama, a parliamentary source said yesterday. “An armed group opened fire on MP Waris Al Yunis’s car as it travelled on the Hama-Salamiyah road at around 9pm (1800 GMT) on Tuesday evening, killing him instantly,” the source said. Yunis was a representative from the coastal province of Tartus, a stronghold of support for President Bashar Al Assad, and a bastion of the Alawite minority sect to which the embattled leader belongs. Rami Abdel Rahman, director of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group, said Yunis was a commander in the pro-regime National Defence Force militia.
Saudi convicts 22 for militancy
DUBAI: A Saudi court sentenced one person to death and 21 others to various jail sentences after they were convicted of a range of militant crimes, including setting up training camps and identifying oil locations to hit, state news agency SPA said yesterday. Of the 22 people convicted, the man sentenced to death was a citizen of Chad, SPA said. The rest, which included another Chadian and a someone described as Bengali, were given prison sentences of between five and 28 years. The group was convicted of embracing militant ideology, the possession of ammunition in their apartment and firing on security services during a raid on their apartment in Makkah, killing one security officer.
Bomb explosion in Cairo wounds 12
CAIRO: A homemade bomb exploded near the Supreme Court in downtown Cairo late on Tuesday night, injuring 12 people while also destroying a car and damaging some shop fronts, the interior ministry and security sources said. It was not clear if a particular individual was targeted in the attack, the second in the Egyptian capital in less than a month. There was no immediate claim of responsibility.
Agencies
