The shadow of terrorism looms over the Dakar Rally
The scourge of terrorism could have affected the Dakar Rally which runs through the lands of Saudi Arabia. The French National Anti-Terrorist Prosecutor's Office (PNAT) has launched an investigation into the explosion of an assistance vehicle belonging to the Sodicars team in the world's toughest car race in Saudi Arabia for possible links to an act of terrorism.
The explosion took place on 30 December near Jeddah and affected the Sodicars team's assistance car driven by French driver Philippe Boutron, who was evacuated and could lose both legs.
The National Anti-Terrorist Prosecutor's Office said in an official note that it has opened a preliminary investigation for "attempted murder in connection with a terrorist organisation". "The opening of this investigation does not mean the conclusion that there has been a terrorist attack, but there are sufficient indications and suspicions to open it," the French National Anti-Terrorist Prosecutor's Office said in an official statement.
Boutron was about to carry out checks on the vehicle when it exploded and had to be evacuated to a hospital along with the other occupants (there were five French nationals in total), where he is in a stable but serious condition after undergoing surgery in Saudi Arabia, according to the organisers of the Dakar Rally, ASO. The investigation is now in the hands of the General Directorate of Internal Security, as reported by the EFE news agency.
There is an anti-terrorist alert in Saudi Arabia and also great caution around the French present due to the jihadist threat that France has been suffering in recent months, materialised in many cases in jihadist attacks on French territory that have taken place in the past.
Moreover, the Dakar Rally could once again suffer from the terrorist problem after it had to leave Africa and take place in other enclaves such as Latin America or in this current case in the Middle East to escape the terrorist scourge itself after jihadist threats and attacks that have occurred in the competition in the past.
The French Foreign Ministry urged its compatriots in Saudi Arabia to be "extremely vigilant" and implied that the hypothesis of a criminal act had not been ruled out, as well as stating that "the terrorist threat persists in Saudi Arabia".
The Saudi Interior Ministry, meanwhile, described the incident as an "accident" and said there were no suspicions about the "criminal origin" of the explosion, according to Le Monde newspaper on its website.
The action coincides with the latest offensive in the Red Sea by Houthi rebels fighting in Yemen's war against the Saudi-led military coalition which is trying to defend the legally established government. The Houthis are backed by Iran, a major representative of the Shi'ite branch of Islam, which is opposed to the Sunni branch defended by the Saudi kingdom. The rebels recently trapped a ship from the United Arab Emirates, an ally of Saudi Arabia in the military alliance that defends the Yemeni government, and continue to attack Saudi ports in the south. This situation is generating a great deal of instability in the area.
