A yet-to-be-identified man yesterday committed suicide by throwing himself off the roof of the Grand Mosque in Islam’s holiest city of Mecca.
The state news agency, SPA, quoted the police as saying:”A foreigner threw himself from the roof of the Grand Mosque in Mecca” to the courtyard below, “resulting in his instant death.”
The body was transported to hospital, with an investigation underway “to determine the victim’s identity, what led to the act and how he was able to commit it despite the existence of a metal fence,” SPA said.
Last year, a Saudi man tried to set himself on fire in front of the Kaaba but was stopped by security forces.
Every year, millions of Muslim pilgrims from across the world travel to Mecca and Medina, Islam’s second holiest site, also in western Saudi Arabia. The Nation