Saudi Crown Prince Nayef dies
Saudi Crown Prince Nayef bin Abdulaziz, a hard-ine conservative who
is credited with pushing back al Qaeda, has died, Saudi state TV said on
Saturday.
Nayef, who had been named crown prince in October
by his brother the king, was heir to the Saudi throne. State TV is
broadcasting Quran readings as an expression of mourning for the prince,
who died in Geneva, Switzerland.
"It is a shock. We are
knew his health was frail but his death is a shock," Saudi Foreign
Ministry spokesman Osama Nogali told CNN. "We still don't know the
reason behind his death."
The Saudi Press Agency
published a statement from the Royal Court, saying it "condoles the
Saudi people on the deceased prince pray to God to bless his soul and to
reward him for his services to his religion and homeland."
Nayef's body will arrive in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia Sunday and will be buried after afternoon prayer in Mecca, Nogali said.
After the funeral, a
period of mourning -- most likely for three days -- will be announced, a
Saudi official told CNN. The official asked not to be named because he
is not authorized to speak to the media.
It is expected that
authorities selected by the king to choose a successor will meet as soon
as the mourning period is over, the official said. A new crown prince
could be named with next three to four days, the source said.
Nayef served as Saudi interior minister since 1975, having overseen the kingdom's counterterrorism efforts.
He also served as deputy premier.
A classified U.S.
Embassy cable leaked by the website WikiLeaks described Nayef as a
hard-line conservative who was lukewarm to King Abdullah's reform
initiatives.
Nayef led the crack down
against hard-ine Islamists who took control of Mecca in 1979, and also
oversaw the smashing of Saudi-based al Qaeda cells in the mid-2000s.
In recent years, his
son, Prince Mohammed bin Nayef has led the Kingdom's fight against al
Qaeda as the elder Nayef seemed to have taken more of back seat.
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