The head of the Polisario Front National Guard, Adaj el Bendir, 65, was killed by an air strike on Tuesday, according to a statement released on Wednesday by the Sahara Press Service (SPS), the official agency of the Saharawi organization.
The agency specified that Bendir died "on the field of honor" when he was in "the liberated zone" of Rouss Irni, in Tifariti, a municipality located in the north of the Sahara and under the control of the Polisario.
Bendir was hit by the shots from a drone when he was retreating after an incursion carried out against the area controlled by the Moroccan Army, according to Sahrawi sources informed this newspaper.
For their part, the Moroccan authorities remain silent, something that has been common since the Polisario Front decreed a state of war on November 13, 2020. On that day there was an exchange of fire between Moroccan Army soldiers and members of the Polisario Front in the demilitarized zone of Guerguerat, next to the border with Mauritania.
Adaj el Bendir, the head of the Polisario Front National Guard, in the Bir Lehlu "liberated zone" in 2016.
The Facebook page FAR-Maroc (Royal Armed Forces), an unofficial site that usually contains information from the Moroccan Army, said on Wednesday that the target of the attack was the General Secretary of the Polisario Front, Brahim Gali.
Saharawi sources indicated that it is not so difficult for a high command to die on the ground: “Our commands are usually on the front line.
Nor would it be strange if one day Brahim Gali himself perished on the battlefield.
On the contrary, it would be an honor for him.
Our commanders know that the way to instill morale in the troops is to set an example and be there, on the front lines.
But Gali was not at that time with El Bendir, that is a hoax spread by Morocco ”.
Adaj el Bendir joined the ranks of the Polisario Front in 1978 and participated in several battles during the war with Morocco (1976-1991).
In June he was appointed commander of the National Guard, a position that would be equivalent in Spain to the headquarters of the Civil Guard.
He was the father of seven children, six of them boys.
The Saharawi organization claims to have suffered four casualties so far.
The first occurred on February 24 due to "enemy fire."
Later, two other troops were killed by an "accident on the ground".
In February, the Polisario Front claimed to have killed three soldiers and a Moroccan noncommissioned officer, an action before which Rabat was silent.
For its part, the United Nations Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara (MINURSO), an organization that has at least 240 observers on the ground, has not issued any public statement on the latest events.
