Tony Blair bodyguard's gun accidentally fires at Israel airport; no injuries

[RedFox]

I've posted a few versions of ths, as there is very little info.....perhaps another warning?

_http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3621176,00.html

Quartet envoy to the Middle East Tony Blair's bodyguard's gun accidentally went off at Israel's Ben Gurion International Airport as Blair was about to leave the country. No one was injured in the incident.


Police and security forces rushed to the scene and boarded Blair on his plane. Airport police have opened an investigation into the incident. (Eli Senyor)

_http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/israel/3440304/Tony-Blairs-bodyguard-fires-gun-in-airport.html

"There was an incident this morning at Ben Gurion airport when one of Blair's bodyguards' guns accidentally went off," police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said.

"An investigation was opened," he said.

Airport authorities said the incident occurred as Mr Blair was about to board a plane at the international airport near Tel Aviv with the British guard.

As representative of the Middle East diplomatic Quartet, made up of the European Union, Russia, the United Nations and the United States, the former prime minister is a frequent visitor to Israel.

The incident will be embarrassing to the police team guarding Mr Blair after a former member of the security detail left her gun in a Starbucks lavatory in September.

_http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/7722522.stm

One of Tony Blair's bodyguards accidentally fired his handgun at Israel's Ben Gurion International Airport, the BBC has been told.

It is understood he was unloading his gun outside the terminal building before travel when he fired a shot.

No one was hurt but airport security guards and police rushed to the scene.

Former British PM Mr Blair, now envoy for the Quartet of Middle East mediators was preparing to leave Israel at the time.

A spokesman for Mr Blair said he was "nowhere near the incident and was unaware it had happened".

The Israeli Aviation Authority told the BBC it happened on Tuesday afternoon.

It is not the first security scare Mr Blair's presence has prompted in Israel.

In May, Israeli fighter jets were scrambled to intercept a jet carrying Mr Blair, after its crew failed to identify themselves.

As an envoy for the Middle East diplomatic quartet - made up of the US, UN, EU and Russia - he is a frequent visitor to Israel.

Mr Blair was appointed to the role after stepping down as British prime minister in June 2007.

 

[Pierre]

A lot of bizarre events surrounding European officials seem to happen in Ben Gurion airport.

5 months ago a security agent committed suicide just when Sarkozy was boarding in a plane flying back to France.

 

[RedFox]

I remembered the story of the 'suicide', but didn't realise it was the same airport.
Between that and Tony Blair's plane being fired on (both included in a connecting the dots article), I had a big old alarm bell go off in my head when this 10 second peace appeared on channel 4 news a few days ago.
It went like 'Tony Blair's body guards gun went off while in an Israel airport as he was cleaning it, no one was hurt. In other news....' I did a double take...
Very bizarre indeed

 

[bedower]

'Bizarre' is a good word for this incident. When I first read about it, I found myself wondering what nationalities Blair's bodyguards are. A gun accidentally going off while being unloaded? Any comments from the gun-owners on this forum?

Also, what seems to keep getting lost in the reports about the security guard's strange suicide is the fact that this particular guard was an Israeli Arab. This puts a completely different slant on the story for me.