The Jet Ski Tourists

Two Moroccan tourists who were on vacation in Algeria are said to have strayed into Algerian seas on their jet skis and were shot dead by the Algerian coast guard.

They were among four dual citizens of France and Morocco who had left the Moroccan resort of Saidia.

The coast guard, which patrols the tight border between the two states, detained the third member of the group.

Due to Morocco's claims to the contested Western Sahara, there has long been hostility between the two countries.

In 1994, their shared border was sealed, and two years ago, Algiers severed connections. It charged Morocco with unfriendly behaviour, which Rabat denied.

After a fisherman posted footage of a lifeless body floating in the sea, indignation over the gunshot spread throughout Morocco.

According to Moroccan media, which was cited by AFP news agency, only one of the party of four made it back to Morocco: Mohamed Kissi.

"We got lost, but we kept going until we found ourselves in Algeria," recalled Mr. Kissi, whose brother Bilal was killed. The group had reportedly ran out of petrol, he claimed.

He claimed that when a black Algerian dinghy approached them and the people on board "fired at us," they knew they were in Algeria.

"Thank God I wasn't hit, but they killed my brother and my friend," he continued.

When the coastguard found the group, Mr. Kissi claimed that they had attempted to flee, telling local media that his brother had attempted to speak with authorities before being shot.

"My other friend was detained, too. My brother and a friend were both injured by five bullets. Another one of my friends was shot."

Later, according to Mr. Kissi, he attempted to swim back to Saidia before being rescued by the Moroccan navy.

The actor Abdelkarim Kissi, who is his cousin, has urged the Moroccan government to take the matter before international courts.

He posted on social media, "They killed Bilal Kissi, my little cousin."

He went on vacation with his companions; the only mistake he made was to enter Algerian territorial seas.

The second victim has been identified as Abdelali Merchouer.

Le360, a news website in Morocco, reports that his body is still in Algeria.

Smail Snabe, the man detained by the Algerian coast guard, apparently appeared before a prosecutor on Wednesday, but no further information was provided.

A Moroccan government official told AFP that the shooting was "a matter for the judiciary" and declined to speak further.

Algeria didn't immediately respond with a statement.

Since the two countries' independence from French colonial domination, tension has been present along their almost 2,000 km (1,242 mi) shared border.

After Islamist extremists attacked a hotel in Marrakesh, a famous Moroccan city, it was shut down in 1994 for security reasons.

The name of the primary border crossing between Morocco and Algeria is Zouj Beghal, which means "Two Mules."

According to legend, two mules were yoked together in Morocco and told to march until they traced what would eventually become the borders between Morocco and Algeria.

Since both nations' independence, the roughly 2,000-kilometer border has naturally been a source of conflict, beginning with the 1963 Sand War over Morocco's claim to territories in Algeria.

The 1975–1991 Western Sahara War was the result of a new rift between the two nations as a result of Algeria supporting the Polisario Front's drive for Western Sahara's independence from Morocco.

After a hotel was destroyed by militant Islamists in the ancient Moroccan city of Marrakesh in 1994, the border was shut once more, reportedly for security reasons.