Gambiaj.com – (MORONI, Comoros) – The President of the Comoros, Azali Assoumani, was “slightly injured” in a knife attack on Friday while attending the funeral of a religious dignitary in a small town near Moroni, the nation’s capital. The assailant, identified as 24-year-old soldier Ahmed Abdou, died under mysterious circumstances while in the custody of investigators, according to a statement from the public prosecutor on Saturday.
President Assoumani, 65, was attacked with a kitchen knife at the funeral in Salimani-Itsandra, a small town overlooking Moroni. The attacker reportedly wounded two people, including a relative of the deceased, before injuring the president. The president’s security forces quickly subdued the young man and handed him over to the authorities.
Ali Mohamed Djounaid, the prosecutor in charge, revealed during a press conference that Abdou had been placed in isolation following his arrest on Friday. However, when investigators arrived on Saturday morning to question him, they found him unresponsive on the ground. “The doctor showed up and, after examining him, declared him dead,” Djounaid stated. No details about the cause of death were provided, and it remains unclear what led to the attack.
The prosecutor identified the assailant as a gendarme who had failed to return to his unit after a 24-hour leave on September 11. Witnesses described him as being in a frenzied state when he lunged at the president. “He first attacked him with a knife before beating him,” said an anonymous witness, adding that the intervention of bystanders likely saved the president’s life.
Despite his injuries, government spokesperson Fatima Ahamada assured the public that President Assoumani is “doing very well” and recovering at home with his family. The exact nature of his injuries has not been disclosed, but Energy Minister Aboubacar Saïd Anli suggested that the president was struck on the scalp, a wound that “bleeds a lot,” requiring stitches.
The prosecutor confirmed that an investigation is underway to determine both the motive behind the attack and the cause of Abdou’s sudden death. No autopsy was ordered, and Abdou’s body was returned to his family for burial, in accordance with Islamic traditions.
The incident has raised security concerns in the Comoros, a small archipelago in the Indian Ocean with a population of approximately 870,000. President Assoumani, a prominent figure in Comorian politics, has yet to make a public appearance following the attack, and no images of him have been released.
As the nation awaits further details, the dual investigations into the attack and Abdou’s death are expected to shed more light on this troubling incident.
