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Do you recall this from back in April?
Daily:
Arab Intel Says Saudi Crown Prince Likely Killed in Coup
TEHRAN
(FNA)- Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman is likely dead after an
assassination attempt on his life last month, a Persian-language
daily reported claiming intel from the security service of an Arab
state.
17
May, 2018
According
to the Persian-language newspaper, Keyhan, a secret service report
sent to the senior officials of an unnamed Arab state disclosed that
bin Salman has been hit by two bullets during the April 21 attack on
his palace, adding that he might well be dead as he has never
appeared in the public eversince.
Heavy
gunfire was heard near the Saudi King's palace in Riyadh Saudi Arabia
on April 21, while King Salman was taken to a US bunker at an airbase
in the city.
A
growing number of videos surfaced the media at the time displaying
that a heavy gunfire erupted around King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al
Saud's palace in the capital, Riyadh.
Reports
said the king and his son, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, were
evacuated to a bunker at an airbase in the city that is under the
protection of the US troops.
While
Saudi officials and media were quiet over the incident, there were
contradicting reports over the incident. Witnesses and residents of
the neighborhoods near the palace said a coup was underway, adding
that the soldiers attacking the palace were guided by footage and
intel they were receiving from a drone flying over the palace.
Saudi
opposition members claimed that "a senior ground force officer
has led a raid on the palace to kill the king and the crown prince".
Videos
also showed that a growing number of armored vehicles were deployed
around the palace. 'Bin Salman's special guard' then took charge of
security in the capital. Riyadh's sky was then closed to all civil
and military flights as military helicopters from 'Bin Salman's
special guard' were flying over the palace.
Bin
Salman was a man who almost often appeared before the media but his
27-day absence since the gunfire in Riyadh has raised questions about
his health.
Saudi
Arabia, the world’s top oil exporter, has witnessed a series of
radical political changes over the past year as Mohammed bin Salman
ousted his cousin as crown prince and jailed well-known princes in an
anti-corruption purge.
Moreover,
bin Salman oversees social and economic reforms that have been
censured by several powerful Wahhabi clerics.
Saudi
Arabia is also embroiled in a long running conflict in its Southern
neighbor Yemen, dubbed by the United Nations as the world’s worst
humanitarian crisis.
Notably,
bin Salman made no media appearance during the April 28 visit of the
newly-appointed US State Secretary Mike Pompeo to Riyadh, his first
foreign trip as the top US diplomat.
During
his stay in Riyadh, Saudi media outlets published images of Pompeo’s
meetings with King Salman and Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir.
This
is while the state-run outlets used to publish images of meetings in
Riyadh between bin Salman and former US secretary of state Rex
Tillerson.
A
few days after the April 21 incident, Saudi media published footage
and images of bin Salman meeting several Saudi and foreign officials.
But the date of the meetings could not be verified, so the release of
the videos could be aimed at dispelling rumors about bin Salman’s
conditions.
It
is not clear if bin Salman’s disappearance is due to reasons such
as him feeling threatened or being injured in the incident.
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