French investigators suspect that the Dakar 2022 was the scene in Saudi Arabia of a second criminal explosion, this time targeting the assistance truck of an Italian driver, reported RMC Sport and BFMTV. A source familiar with the matter confirmed to AFP:that the accidental origin of the facts seems excluded and that the logical consequence should be an official denunciation to the Italian authorities.»
On December 30, another participant in the rally-raid, the French driver Philippe Boutron, was seriously injured by the explosion of his car in Jeddah. An investigation was immediately opened in France by the National Anti-Terrorist Prosecutor’s Office (Pnat) and, at the beginning of February, a source familiar with the matter indicated that the only possible explanation for the origin of the explosion of the vehicle was the installation of a “improvised explosive device».
Read alsoExplosion on the Dakar: traces of explosives found on the wreckage of the car confirm the trail of the attack
On Tuesday, RMC Sport and BFMTV wrote that “the explosion of the assistance truck of the Italian pilot Camélia Liparoti (X-Raid Yamaha), on the night of December 31 to January 1 at the exit of Jeddah (Saudi Arabia) the day before the start of the race, +n’ is not of accidental origin+». «The French specialized services (…) have discreetly carried out, in recent weeks, investigations into the wreckage of the Italian vehicle, while it was transiting through France“, added the two media. Asked by AFP, the national anti-terrorist prosecutor’s office indicated that it had “no investigation has been opened into these facts which do not fall within our competencebecause concerning a pilot of Italian nationality and committed in a foreign country.
Read alsoDakar: the pilot’s relatives speak of “a bomb attack” after the explosion of his vehicle
As part of the French investigation into the facts of which Philippe Boutron was the victim, a delegation of French investigators (Pnat magistrate, members of the General Directorate of Internal Security (DGSI), technical and scientific police technicians) went there at the end of January at the beginning of February and was able to take samples from Philippe Boutron’s vehicle. The Dakar 2023 will start on December 31 for the fourth time from Saudi Arabia for 14 stages drawn from west to east with “more dunes and kilometers».