RIYADH, Feb 2: Saudi businessman Jamal Khalifa, a brother-in-law of Osama bin Laden, who was shot dead in Madagascar on Wednesday, was buried in Madina on Thursday evening. Khalifa belonged to a prominent family from Madina. The body had earlier been flown into Madina from Madagascar.

Providing details of the killing, Abdullah Khalifa, the eldest brother of Jamal Khalifa, told the Saudi Arabic language daily Okaz: “One of the engineers working with my brother in the precious stones mine contacted us about 3.00 in the morning telling us that Jamal was attacked by 30 people who broke into his house and smashed his head with stones and then they rained him with bullets from their machine guns. They robbed every thing – money, precious stones even his laptop.” “Jamal Khalifa was not able to retaliate since he did not have any weapons to defend himself with,” adjutant of the state Razafindranaivo had earlier told Reuters.

Abdullah said only one other engineer was injured in the incident and the rest of the workers managed to run out of the compound which is located near the project site. He said the government in Madagascar didn’t assign security forces to guard the place.

He stressed there were no international warrants against his brothers, pointing that his brother had legal travel documents and was not wanted by any country. Abdullah said the family would pursue Jamal’s case after his burial.

Malek Khalifa, another brother of Jamal, told the Dubai-based Al-Arabiya television that the aim of the killers appeared to have been to rob his brother, who mined and traded precious stones in Madagascar.