Jet ski visitors shot after cautions – Algeria reports

The government of Algeria has stated that a bunch of tourists who accidentally entered their waters from Morocco on jet skis were given a warning before they were fired upon.

Last week, two men died after a fight with the Algerian coastguard.

In its first statement about the incident, the Algerian defense ministry said on Sunday that the tourists didn’t obey an order to stop multiple times.

However, someone who lived through the event has disagreed with this statement – stating that they were never given a warning.

“My brother Bilal was killed by gunshots right in front of me,” Mohamed Kissim told the Reuters news agency.

The group started riding jet skis from the Moroccan resort of Saidia on Tuesday when they were hit by gunfire.

In a previous interview with French TV BFM, Mr. Kissi talked about how they got lost when it became dark. They realized they had accidentally entered Algerian territory when they saw coastguard boats coming towards them.

“They came towards us,” he said – mentioning that his brother, Bilal, gave a signal for them to go back before the coastguard began shooting at them.

Mr Kissi also said that they were able to escape from danger because they ran out of fuel.

Algeria’s defense ministry said that they gave a clear warning to the group, but the suspects didn’t listen and ran away.

It said that the reason for firing the warning shots was because there was a lot of illegal activity by drug smugglers and organized crime at its borders.

Morocco and Algeria have had a lot of problems with each other for a long time because of Morocco’s belief that they should control the disputed Western Sahara region.

The line separating them was shut in 1994, and Algiers cut off connections two years ago. Morocco was accused of doing unfriendly actions, but Rabat denied this allegation.

Algerian officials have also said that they found a dead man after an incident last week. They took his body to Tlemcen, a city near their shared border, to examine it.

It is believed that Abdelali Mechouar, who is related to the Kissi brothers, is the second person who died in the incident, according to Moroccan media. His family still hasn’t received his body.

The second man who passed away, Bilal Kissi, was buried on Thursday after his body was found on Saidia beach.

The Algerian authorities arrested a man named Smail Snabe. He has now been found guilty and given a prison sentence of 18 months, as reported by Morocco’s National Human Rights Council (CNDH).

The CNDH has asked for him to be set free and given to the Moroccan authorities.

The council also criticized the Algerian coastguard’s actions. They said that not helping people who were lost at sea was very wrong and went against international rules and laws that protect human rights. This is particularly bad because the people were in a situation where it was unclear who should help them.

The Moroccan authorities have said they won’t talk about the incident, as they see it as a legal matter. However, the office that investigates crimes is looking into the accident.

The families of Bilal Kissi and Smail Snabe, who have both French nationality, want to take legal action in France, according to the AFP news agency.

The foreign ministry of France said on Friday that it knew about the death of one of its citizens and the capture of another French person in Algeria.

It said that it is talking to their families and the authorities in both countries.