President seeks treatment in Paris
Source: AFP |
October 15, 2012, Monday
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Print Edition
Print Edition
MAURITANIA President Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz flew to Paris for medical treatment yesterday after being wounded when soldiers "accidentally" shot at his convoy as he returned to the capital Nouakchott from a weekend retreat.
Abdel Aziz appeared on television from his hospital bed before flying out of the country, telling Mauritanians that surgery on him after Saturday's shooting had been a "success."
"I want to reassure them about my health after this incident, which was committed in error by a military unit," he added. "Thanks be to God, there is no problem."
The government also played down the shooting, saying Abdel Aziz, 55, was only "slightly wounded" and that it was an accident as the soldiers had not realized it was the presidential convoy.
"This was an accidental shooting on the presidential convoy as it returned to Nouakchott. The army unit did not recognise the presidential convoy," Communications Minister Hamdi Mahjoub said on national television.
Bullet removed
The president, who has been in power in the impoverished northwest African nation since leading a 2008 military coup, was flown to Paris for medical treatment after undergoing an operation at a military hospital to remove a bullet from his body.
The source did not specify where the bullet had lodged but said none of his vital organs had been hit and "his life is not in danger."
Various unconfirmed reports in Nouakchott said Abdel Aziz, who has in the past reportedly been targeted by Al-Qaeda's North African branch, had been hit in the arm and the abdomen.
A security source had said earlier that Abdel Aziz was hit in the arm by a bullet fired by an unknown gunman as he was driving from his retreat in Tweila, about 40 kilometres from the capital.
The gunman in a car "directly targeted" the president, he added, without divulging the identity of the attacker or the motive.
Abdel Aziz appeared on television from his hospital bed before flying out of the country, telling Mauritanians that surgery on him after Saturday's shooting had been a "success."
"I want to reassure them about my health after this incident, which was committed in error by a military unit," he added. "Thanks be to God, there is no problem."
The government also played down the shooting, saying Abdel Aziz, 55, was only "slightly wounded" and that it was an accident as the soldiers had not realized it was the presidential convoy.
"This was an accidental shooting on the presidential convoy as it returned to Nouakchott. The army unit did not recognise the presidential convoy," Communications Minister Hamdi Mahjoub said on national television.
Bullet removed
The president, who has been in power in the impoverished northwest African nation since leading a 2008 military coup, was flown to Paris for medical treatment after undergoing an operation at a military hospital to remove a bullet from his body.
The source did not specify where the bullet had lodged but said none of his vital organs had been hit and "his life is not in danger."
Various unconfirmed reports in Nouakchott said Abdel Aziz, who has in the past reportedly been targeted by Al-Qaeda's North African branch, had been hit in the arm and the abdomen.
A security source had said earlier that Abdel Aziz was hit in the arm by a bullet fired by an unknown gunman as he was driving from his retreat in Tweila, about 40 kilometres from the capital.
The gunman in a car "directly targeted" the president, he added, without divulging the identity of the attacker or the motive.
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