YR –
Was the Dakar the target of an attack? “May be”, declared the Minister of Foreign Affairs Jean-Yves Le Drian, confirming the terrorist track after the mysterious explosion of an assistance vehicle of the Sodicars Racing team, which seriously injured the pilot Philippe Boutron, on December 30, in Jeddah, two days before the start of the rally-raid. While the Saudi authorities immediately ruled out any “criminal suspicion” in this “accident”, the thesis of an explosive device, placed voluntarily under the pedals of the car, is defended, tooth and nail, by the affected French team.
A hypothesis since taken seriously by the Quai d’Orsay. “We made it known very quickly and we told the Saudi organizers and officials that we had to be very transparent about what had just happened, because there were hypotheses that it could be a terrorist act. “, said Jean-Yves Le Drian, guest of BFMTV Friday January 7. “There have already been terrorist acts against French interests (in Saudi Arabia, editor’s note)“, he also recalled.
There may have been a terrorist attack
The question of stopping the Dakar, which ends on January 14, has also been put on the table. “We thought it was worth giving up on this sporting event. The organizers decided to keep going.”, explained the former PS president of the Brittany region. Should they still have had to give it up? “At least, put in place sufficient and reinforced protection mechanisms”, he concluded. “I think they did but the question remains.”