Saudi prince killed in helicopter crash
riyadh: A Saudi prince was killed when a helicopter with several officials on board crashed near the kingdom’s southern border with war-torn Yemen, state television said.
The news channel Al-Ekhbariya announced the death of Prince Mansour bin Moqren, the deputy governor of Asir province and son of a former crown prince.
It did not reveal the cause of Sunday’s crash or the fate of the other officials aboard.
News of the crash comes as Saudi Arabia pursues a sweeping purge of the kingdom’s upper ranks, with dozens of princes, ministers and a billionaire tycoon arrested as Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman cements his hold on power.
Already viewed as the de facto ruler controlling all the major levers of government – from defence to the economy – Prince Mohammed is seen to be stamping out internal dissent before a formal transfer of power from his 81-year-old father King Salman.
The helicopter crash also comes after Saudi Arabia on Saturday intercepted and destroyed a ballistic missile near Riyadh’s international airport after it was fired from Yemen in an escalation of the kingdom’s war against Iranbacked Houthi rebels. On Sunday, Saudi Arabia announced rewards of up to US$30mil (RM124.7mil) for information that would help arrest or track down some of the top Houthi rebel leaders and planners.
A Saudi-led coalition that began its military intervention in Yemen in 2015 has accused regional rival Iran of supplying ballistic missiles to the rebels.
RIyadh: The Saudi-led coalition battling Syiah Houthi rebels in Yemen closed the country’s air, sea and land borders and accused Iran of being behind a weekend missile attack on Riyadh, saying it “may amount to an act of war”.
Saudi Arabia intercepted and destroyed the ballistic missile, which was launched from Yemen as rebels appeared to escalate hostilities, near Riyadh’s international airport on Saturday.
The missile was the first aimed by the Syiah rebels at the heart of the Saudi capital, underscoring the growing threat posed by the raging conflict.
“The leadership of the coalition forces therefore considers this ... a blatant military aggression by the Iranian regime which may amount to an act of war,” the official Saudi news agency SPA said in a statement yesterday.
Smouldering debris landed inside the King Khalid International Airport, just north of Riyadh, after the missile was shot down but authorities reported no major damage or loss of life.
Yemen’s complex war pits the Saudi-backed government of President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi against former president Ali Abdullah Saleh and his Iran-backed Houthi rebel allies.
The Saudi statement said that the borders were being closed “to fill the gaps in the inspection procedures which enable the continued smuggling of missiles and military equipment to the Houthi militias loyal to Iran in Yemen”.
Despite the temporary closure of the air, sea and land ports, Saudi would protect “the entry and exit of relief and humanitarian personnel”.
“The coalition ... affirms the kingdom’s right to respond to Iran at the appropriate time and in the appropriate form,” it added.
The statement came a day after the Islamic State group claimed a major attack on Yemen’s government bastion of Aden on Sunday that killed at least 15 people.
IS and its extremist rival al-Qaeda have taken advantage of the war to bolster their presence across much of the south.
While al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) has for years been the stronger presence in southern Yemen, IS has recently come forward to claim attacks on both the army and the country’s Syiahs, whom it considers heretics.
According to the World Health Organisation, more than 8,650 people have been killed since the conflict erupted in 2015 and nearly 49,000 wounded.
The coalition ... affirms the kingdom’s right to respond to Iran at the appropriate time and in the appropriate form.
SPA