RABAT: Two holidaymakers jet skiing in Morocco were shot dead by the Algerian coast guard when they strayed across the maritime border between two Mediterranean countries, Moroccan media reported on Thursday.
Bilal Kissi and Abdelali Merchouer, both French-Moroccan dual nationals, came under fire after taking a wrong turn off the beach resort of Saidia on Morocco’s northeast tip, the Le360 news website said, citing a witness.
A third man, Smail Snabe, also French-Moroccan, was arrested by the Algerian coast guard and appeared before a prosecutor on Wednesday, Le360 reported.
There were four men in the group on Tuesday, all riding jet skis.
“We got lost but we kept going until we found ourselves in Algeria,” Mohamed Kissi, the brother of the young man who died, was quoted as saying by the Moroccan website Al Omk.
“We knew we were in Algeria because a black Algerian dinghy came toward us” and those on board “fired at us,” he said.
“Thank God I wasn’t hit, but they killed my brother and my friend. They arrested my other friend,” he added.
“Five bullets hit my brother and my friend. My other friend was hit by a bullet,” Kissi was quoted as saying.
“We got lost and we were out of fuel,” he said, adding that he was picked up by the Moroccan navy who took him back to the Saidia marina.
The incident comes against a backdrop of increased tensions between Algeria and Morocco exacerbated by their antagonism over the disputed territory of Western Sahara.
The border between the North African nations has been closed since 1994, and Algiers severed ties with Rabat in 2021 after accusing its neighbor of “hostile acts,” an accusation Morocco called “completely unjustified.”
When asked about the reported shooting of the jet skiers on Thursday, Moroccan government spokesman Mustapha Baitas declined to comment, saying only that it was “a matter for the judiciary.”
There was no immediate comment from the Algerian side.
Jet skiers killed by Algeria coast guard after losing way: reports
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Jet skiers killed by Algeria coast guard after losing way: reports
- Bilal Kissi and Abdelali Merchouer, both French-Moroccan dual nationals, came under fire after taking a wrong turn off the beach resort of Saidia on Morocco’s northeast tip
- A third man, Smail Snabe, also French-Moroccan, was arrested by the Algerian coast guard
Syria Kurds impose curfew in Qamishli ahead of govt forces entry
- The curfew came after Syrian security personnel entered the mixed Kurdish-Arab city of Hasakah and the countryside around the Kurdish town of Kobani on Monday
QAMISHLI: Kurdish forces imposed a curfew on Kurdish-majority Qamishli in northeastern Syria on Tuesday, ahead of the deployment of government troops to the city, an AFP team reported.
The curfew came after Syrian security personnel entered the mixed Kurdish-Arab city of Hasakah and the countryside around the Kurdish town of Kobani on Monday, as part of a comprehensive agreement to gradually integrate the Kurds’ military and civilian institutions into the state.
The Kurds had ceded territory to advancing government forces in recent weeks.
An AFP correspondent saw Kurdish security forces deployed in Qamishli and found the streets empty of civilians and shops closed after the curfew came into effect early on Tuesday.
It will remain in force until 6:00 am (0300 GMT) on Wednesday.
The government convoy is expected to enter the city later on Tuesday and will include a limited number of forces and vehicles, according to Marwan Al-Ali, the Damascus-appointed head of internal security in Hasakah province.
The integration of Kurdish security forces into the interior ministry’s ranks will follow, he added.
Friday’s deal “seeks to unify Syrian territory,” including Kurdish areas, while also maintaining an ongoing ceasefire and introducing the “gradual integration” of Kurdish forces and administrative institutions, according to the text of the agreement.
It was a blow to the Kurds, who had sought to preserve the de facto autonomy they exercised after seizing vast areas of north and northeast Syria in battles against Daesh during the civil war, backed by a US-led coalition.
Mazloum Abdi, head of the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), had previously said the deal would be implemented on the ground from Monday, with both sides to pull forces back from frontline positions in parts of the northeast, and from Kobani in the north.
He added that a “limited internal security force” would enter parts of Hasakah and Qamishli, but that “no military forces will enter any Kurdish city or town.”
