Algeria shots dead two Moroccans who mistakenly crossed into its waters

Moroccans mourned two of their nationals who have been killed by the Algerian coastal guard after having mistakenly trespassed into Algeria’s waters.

The killing took place on Tuesday after a group of five Moroccan tourists, including three who also had French nationality, lost their way off Saidia resort and ended in Algerian waters where they have been ruthlessly killed.

Speaking to different Moroccan media outlets, Mohamed Qissi a brother of one of the victims said the Algerian coastal guard knew they were unarmed civilians on Jet skis but they nonetheless shot at them without warning.

Another dead tourist was still in Algeria where authorities have also arrested a man who was with the group.

French foreign ministry also confirmed the death of a binational and the arrest of another in Algiers.

Spokesman for the Moroccan government did not offer details when asked by journalists saying this is a “case for the judiciary.”

Actually, the Oujda public prosecutor’s office initiated, on August 29, an investigation on the fatal incident at sea. The Public Prosecutor’s Office directed the Royal Gendarmerie in Oujda to collect information on the incident’s circumstances.

On social media, Moroccans expressed anger at the lethal intervention by Algerian guard against unarmed tourists.

Algeria has taken hostile stands in recent years after decades of backing militarily and diplomatically the polisario separatists.

It unilaterally cut ties, the flow of gas through a pipeline and banned all Moroccan flights over its skies.