Manama: The perpetrator of the pre-dawn attack at the outer western gate of Al Salam Palace in the Red Sea city of Jeddah on Saturday did not have a criminal record, a spokesperson for the Saudi Ministry of Interior has said.
“He has no criminal or security record and the security forces do not have now information about possible links with extremists or terrorist groups,” Mansoor Al Turki said.
“The attacker was alone in his personal car. He got off and started firing randomly at the royal guard security. There are yet no details about the motives or reasons for the criminal attack and investigators are actively working on the case,” Al Turki told Saudi Television.
Two guards, Hamad Bin Shalah Al Mutairi and Abdullah Bin Faisal Al Subaie, were killed and three others injured in the attack.
The attacker was identified as Mansour Bin Hassan Bin Al Ali Al Fuhaid Al Amri, a 28-year-old Saudi national.
The spokesperson said that the attack occurred at 3:25 am and that the guards dealt with him as he stopped his car, got off and started shooting from his Kalashnikov. The police found three Molotov cocktails with him.
Witnesses told Saudi daily Okaz that the guards were quick in taking position and shouted for the gunman to surrender, but he ignored their calls and kept shooting until they neutralised him.
Relatives of Al Mutairi, one of the two guards killed in the attack, said that he was in his 40s and that he was the father of three children, one in the first grade, the second in kindergarten and the third a six-month baby. The guard will be buried on Monday after his body is flown to Riyadh, they said.
