Saudi king Salman’s bodyguard shot dead in ‘personal dispute’

A prominent bodyguard to Saudi Arabia’s King Salman has been shot dead in what authorities described as a personal dispute, according to reports on state TV,

General Abdel Aziz alfagham was visiting a friend in the Red Sea city of Jiddah when he had a row with an acquaintance, Mamdouh bin Meshaal al-ali, on Saturday night.

A police statement said Ali left the house in Jeddah to return with a gun with which he then fired.

The official Saudi Press Agency (SPA) said General Fagham had been visiting a friend when Ali entered the house.

“The conversation between Fagham and Ali escalated... Ali left the home, came back carrying a gun and fired at Fagham, injuring two others in the household, a Filipino worker and brother of the house’s owner.”

Ali was shot dead after refusing to surrender to police, the statement said. Gen Fagham died of his wounds in hospital. Seven people were injured.

As well as the two people killed at the house Gen Fagham was visiting, they included five security staff involved in the shoot-out.

A one-sentence statement published by state TV on Twitter identified Gen Fagham as “the bodyguard of the custodian of the two holy mosques,” the honorific given to Saudi kings.

The incident has shocked the kingdom and tributes poured in across social media for Gen Fagham, with many including images of the bodyguard at work.

One included him bending down to apparently help tie the shoes of Salman, the 83-year-old ruler.

Others show Gen Fagham in the background of events with both King Salman and his predecessor, the late King Abdullah.

The first official word of his death came in a single tweet by Saudi state television.

“Maj Gen Abdulaziz alfagham, bodyguard of the custodian of the two holy mosques, was shot dead following a personal dispute in Jiddah,” the tweet read.

A gunfight erupted as security forces responded to the home that saw the shooter killed and five members of the security forces wounded, the agency reported.

The daily newspaper Okaz, while offering no details on the shooting that led to his death, described Gen Fagham in a headline as: “The Keeper of Kings.”

Gun crimes are rare in Saudi Arabia, where strict Islamic law sees convicted killers and drug smugglers routinely executed.

Saudi Arabia is home to more than 30 million people. In 2017 there were 419 reported homicides, according to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime.