Saudi who took sons to fight with Daesh is killed

A Saudi man accused by his ex-wife of abducting his two little sons and smuggling them into Syria to fight with the Daesh group has been killed in a suicide attack, a newspaper in the Gulf kingdom reported on Monday.

Nassir Al Shayeq hit headlines in Saudi Arabia last month when his ex-wife accused him of kidnapping his two sons Ahmed and Abdullah, 10 and 11 years, and smuggling them across the Turkish border into Syria where he joined Daesh group.

Ajel Arabic language daily, quoting Syria’s Zaman newspaper, said Shayeq was killed in a suicide attack he carried out in Syria.

It said Shayeq was picked by Daesh leaders to carry out the attack in a draw among the fighters queuing for such operations against the Syrian regime.

“Zaman said Shayeq has been killed in a suicide attack but it is still not known what happened to his two sons as all Daesh and pro-Daesh websites blessed the operation but made no mention of Shayeq’s two sons,” Ajel said.

A few days after he was accused by his wife of taking his sons, Shayeq sent her a picture showing the bearded man hugging his kids as they clutched their guns and held up their fingers, indicating they have joined Daesh.

The picture showed one the two boys carried the famous Russian-built Kalashnikov assault rifle while one of them clutched a grenade by the other hand.

“Consider your sons as birds in paradise,” their father told his wife in an e-mail which included their photograph just four days after he crossed the Turkish border to Syria.

Saudi ambassador in Turkey, Adel Mirdad, said last month the embassy had contacted the Turkish foreign ministry to help locate the two boys and bring them back.

The Saudi ‘Al Arabiya’ news network quoted the mother as saying their father smuggled her sons to Syria to fight along with the opposition forces to “burn her heart for them and take revenge against her following their separation.”
 

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