Social media users have been sharing unconfirmed reports with a video clip since early Tuesday morning, May 7, claiming there was an assassination attempt on Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in Saudi Arabia‘s capital Riyadh.
According to reports, a heavily armed security convoy carrying Crown Prince and several senior officials came under the attack. It was also said that a car bomb attack resulted in casualties and injuries, but Prince bin Salman managed to escape.
A video widely circulated on social media platforms showed a burning car and presence of police forces.
The caption of the post read: “Arab sources are reporting an assassination attempt against Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.”
“No confirmation for now. Video purports to show some sort of security incident in Riyadh,” it added.
The post has first shared by a username Winter Inter on X.
However, while verifying the video’s authenticity, Siasat.com found that the it was actually from a fire incident in Riyadh that was dealt with by the Civil Defense on March 16, 2024.
At that time, General Directorate of Civil Defense took to X and wrote, “Riyadh Civil Defense extinguishes a fire in two vehicles following a traffic accident, and there were no injuries.”
Taking to X, several Saudi journalist confirmed that this video belongs to an old accident and expressed their anger. They also urged the people to rely on credible sources and exercise caution when consuming and sharing news, especially in sensitive matters such as this.
