Comoros President is ‘Slightly Injured’ in Knife Attack. The Suspect is Found Dead in Police Cell

FILE - Comoros’ President Azali Assoumani waves as he is escorted by Chinese officials upon arrival at the Beijing Capital International Airport, in Beijing, on Sept. 1, 2024. (AP Photo/Andy Wong, Pool, File)

By NAZIR NAZI

9:42 AM EDT, September 14, 2024

MORONI, Comoros (AP) — The president of the Indian Ocean island nation of Comoros was “slightly injured” in a knife attack while attending the funeral of a religious leader on Friday, his office said. The suspect, who was identified as a 24-year-old male soldier, was then found dead in a police cell on Saturday.

President Azali Assoumani’s injuries were not serious and he had returned to his home, his office said in a statement. It said the attacker was arrested by security forces and was taken into custody, but authorities said he had been discovered a day later “unresponsive” in a cell where he was being held and was declared dead.

The suspect was identified as Ahmed Abdou. Public prosecutor Ali Mohamed Djounaid said Abdou had attacked Assoumani with a kitchen knife at the funeral. A civilian was also injured during the attack while attempting to protect the president, government minister Aboubacar Said Anli said.

The attack happened in the town of Salimani on the outskirts of the capital Moroni.

“The president’s security agents immediately subdued the young man and handed him over to investigators,” public prosecutor Djounaid told reporters. He said an investigation was underway into the attacker’s motive and the circumstances of his death while in custody.

Assoumani was reelected as president of Comoros in January in a vote denounced by opposition parties as fraudulent. At least one person died in unrest following the election. The country, which is made up of an archipelago of islands off the east coast of Africa, has experienced more than a dozen coups or attempted coups since independence from France in 1975.

Assoumani, 65, is a former military officer who first came to power in a coup in 1999. He served a first term as president from 2002 - 2006 and was elected again in 2016.

He has been the leader since and extended his presidency into a fourth term this year after changing the constitution to remove term limits and abolishing a system that saw the presidency rotated between Comoros’ three main islands. He has been accused of cracking down on dissent and banning peaceful protests.