A militant who is accused of killing two police officers in Riyadh, the capital of Saudi Arabia, in a drive-by shooting on April 8 acted with support from the Islamic State (IS) group in Syria and had served time in a US jail, Saudi Arabian officials said on Friday.
The militant, who has been arrested, told the police that he and an accomplice who remains at large had received guns, cash and instructions from the Islamic State, formerly known as the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, the officials said.
The state-run Saudi Press Agency identified the man who was arrested as Yazid Mohammed Abdulrahman Abu Nayan, 23, a Saudi Arabian. The authorities announced a reward of more than US$250,000 for information leading to the arrest of the man suspected of being his accomplice, Nawaf al-Enezi.
The arrest of Abu Nayan came three years after he stood trial in the US for belligerent behavior aboard a commercial airliner bound for Houston from Portland, Oregon, that caused it to return to Portland for an emergency landing, according to court documents.
On the 2012 flight, Abu Nayan lost his temper when he was not able to sit next to a friend and started hitting flight attendants and shouting about Osama bin Laden, according to court documents and fellow passengers.
Passengers restrained him, and he was bound with plastic cuffs until the plane returned to Portland, where he was arrested and later put on trial. After two months in jail, he pleaded guilty and was sentenced to time served. He returned to Saudi Arabia soon afterward.
Saudi Ministry of Interior official Colonel Omer al-Zalal, confirmed that the Saudi government knew of Abu Nayan’s past. Saudi officials were quoted at the time of his arrest in the US as saying that Abu Nayan had psychological problems.
Abu Nayan appears to be one of a small group of Saudi Arabians who have heeded calls by the Islamic State to stage attacks inside Saudi Arabia, which has joined the US-led air campaign against the group.
Saudi Arabia has faced a number of attacks linked to the Islamic State since the group seized territory in Iraq last year and in Syria in 2013.
School bullies in Singapore are to face caning under new guidelines, but the education minister on Tuesday said it would be meted out only as a last resort with strict safeguards. Human rights groups regularly criticize Singapore for the use of corporal punishment, which remains part of the school and criminal justice systems, but authorities have defended it as a deterrent to crime and serious misconduct. Caning was discussed in the parliament after legislators asked how it would be used in relation to bullying in schools. The debate followed stricter guidelines on serious student misconduct, including bullying, unveiled by the Singaporean Ministry of
As evening falls in Fiji’s capital, a steady stream of people approaches a makeshift clinic that is a first line of defense against one of the world’s fastest-growing HIV epidemics. In the South Pacific nation — a popular tourist destination of just under a million people — more than 2,000 new HIV cases were recorded last year, a 26 percent increase from 2024. The government has declared an HIV outbreak and described it as a national crisis. “It’s spreading like wildfire,” said Siteri Dinawai, 46, who came to be tested. The Moonlight Clinic, a converted minibus parked in a suburban cul-de-sac in Suva, is
A MESSAGE: Japan’s participation in the Balikatan drills is a clear deterrence signal to China not to attack Taiwan while the US is busy in the Middle East, an analyst said The Japan Self-Defense Forces yesterday fired a Type 88 anti-ship missile during a joint maritime exercise with US, Australian and Philippine forces, hitting a decommissioned Philippine Navy ship in waters facing the disputed South China Sea, in drills that underscore Tokyo’s rising willingness to project military power on China’s doorstep. The drill took place as Manila and Tokyo began talks on a potential defense equipment transfer, made possible by Japan’s decision to scrap restrictions on military exports. The discussions include the possible early transfer of Abukuma-class destroyers and TC-90 aircraft to the Philippines, Japanese Minister of Defense Shinjiro Koizumi said. Philippine Secretary of
Separatists in Alberta are preparing to submit a petition tomorrow that they said has enough signatures to force a referendum on independence for the oil-rich Canadian province. Polls indicate the pro-independence camp remains a minority among Alberta’s 5 million people, but has hit a historic high of roughly 30 percent. Alberta separatists are also closer than ever to forcing a referendum, riding momentum fueled by intensifying grievances over Ottawa’s control of the provincial oil industry. They have also undeniably gotten a boost from the return to power of US President Donald Trump. After launching a petition in January, Stay Free Alberta, the group
RSS