MAKKAH, 27 February — Ten people, including five security officers, were injured as a frenzied Sudanese pilgrim went on a rampage inside the Grand Mosque on Monday.
A high-ranking security official told Arab News that the pilgrim, 60, used a knife to stab a Chechen and a Turk, besides five Saudi security men and a Bangladeshi cleaning boy.
The injured were taken to nearby Ajyad Hospital and were discharged later. Medical sources at the hospital said the wounds of most of the injured were minor.
Mohsen Ibrahim Al-Mouled, a guard at King Abdul Aziz Gate of the mosque, had undergone surgery at the hospital as he sustained a deep wound on the left side of his stomach.
Sources at the hospital described Al-Mouled’s condition as stable. He is likely to be shifted to the general surgery department, they added.
Al-Mouled’s son said his father was wounded while trying to overpower the Sudanese after the latter had stabbed the civilians and police officers.
The source said the Sudanese pilgrim was a neurotic patient and was taken to the psychological department at King Abdul Aziz Hospital for treatment.
The source ruled out that the attack was premeditated. “It is an individual case and such acts will come only from mad people,” he added.
This is the second such incident at the Grand Mosque during Haj this year. Two days ago a 20-year-old Ukranian stabbed a Yemeni inside the Grand Mosque.
Security sources told Arab News that investigations were under way into the incident involving the European pilgrim.
During questioning, the Ukranian, a student of the Islamic University in Madinah, insisted that the Yemeni, in his 40s, was the antichrist and he deserved to be killed.
He also stated that he had a dream before he traveled to Makkah that he would meet the antichrist — a one-eyed man spotting a long beard — in the holy city. He said the features of the antichrist he saw in his dream fitted the Yemeni.
