MAKKAH: Two traffic officers were stabbed by a knife-wielding man close to Safa and Marwa yesterday afternoon. “Two traffic officers — a first lieutenant and a private first class officer — were stabbed in the Al-Ghazza area north of the Grand Mosque. The man managed to escape,” said Maj. Abdul Muhsin Al-Mayman, official spokesman for the Makkah police department.
Both officers were taken to hospital with the private first class officer released following treatment. The first lieutenant is still in hospital.
Eyewitnesses were shocked at the attack and asked why a man in ihram had any reason to carry a knife close to the Grand Mosque.
Al-Mayman said further information would be released once investigations were completed.
In a similar incident several months ago, a pilgrim from Southeast Asia stabbed a number of pilgrims inside the Grand Mosque, injuring at least three people. Investigations revealed the man was mentally ill.
