Prince Talal bin Abdulaziz reportedly died during a training exercise with the Royal Saudi Air Force
Team Clarion
RIYADH — Saudi Prince Talal bin Abdulaziz bin Bandar bin Abdulaziz Al Saud has died aged 62, the Saudi Royal Court announced on Thursday. Reports in Arabic media claim the prince was killed in a plane crash.
The Royal Court announced the prince’s death in a short statement. His funeral prayers were performed at Imam Turki bin Abdullah Mosque in the capital on Friday evening, a Saudi Press Agency (SPA) report said.
Prince Talal was the son of Prince Bandar and the grandson of the first Saudi monarch, King Abdulaziz. Born in 1961, he was a lieutenant colonel in the Royal Saudi Air Force and served as assistant intelligence chief at the GIP, the Saudi intelligence agency, from 2004 to 2012.
While the court’s statement did not reveal the cause of the prince’s death, Lebanon’s Al Mashhad news outlet reported that he died when his F-15 fighter jet crashed during a training exercise with the Air Force in the Eastern Province on Thursday.
The late prince’s career in intelligence was marked by significant roles, including being named assistant intelligence chief in 2004 and later deputy intelligence chief in 2010. He worked closely with Prince Muqrin bin Abdulaziz, who was the head of the agency at the time. His tenure in the intelligence agency concluded in October 2012 when Youssef bin Ali Al Idrissi replaced him.
