Revealed: The Tiger Squad assassins

SAUDI Arabia’s crown prince has a death squad tasked with covertly killing dissidents inside the kingdom and on foreign soil, it is claimed.

The Firqat el-Nemr, or Tiger Squad, is made up of 50 of the kingdom’s best-skilled intelligence and military operatives who are loyal to their leader.

It is supervised by Mohammed bin Salman, the de-facto ruler of the Gulf state, the Middle East Eye reported.

He is alleged to have chosen five of his most trusted personal security team to serve in the squad. They are alleged to be among the 15 men sent to kill Khashoggi, including Maher Abdulaziz Mutrib, Mohammed al-Zahrani and Dhaar al-Harbi.

A source said: ‘They [the Saudi leadership] have the belief that arresting critics will mount pressure on them so that’s why they started assassinating them quietly.’

It was named the Tiger Squad after Major General Ahmed al-Assiri, deputy chief of Saudi intelligence, who was sacked by Riyadh last week over Khashoggi’s death. The source added: ‘Assiri is well known among his colleagues as the Tiger of the South.’

Assiri and Saoud al-Qahtani, one of the crown prince’s closest aides, who was also dismissed last week, are believed to be part of the command structure. Mutrib is described as ‘the spinal cord of the Tiger Squad’.

Mr Khashoggi’s fingers were allegedly taken to prove the mission’s success and they were presented to the crown prince. ‘MBS always said he will cut off the fingers of every writer who criticises him,’ the source said.