According to media reports, two Algerian individuals, who had traveled to Saudi Arabia’s holy city of Mecca to perform Umrah (a minor pilgrimage), were allegedly fatally stabbed by a fellow Algerian at a hotel in the city.
The Saudi police reported that an Algerian visitor had been apprehended after they had discovered he had stabbed two other visitors and had managed to flee the scene briefly.
Algerian newspaper Elkhbar reported that the victims were among a contingent of Algerians who had journeyed to Saudi Arabia to perform Umrah earlier this month.
The Algerian travel official informed Elkhbar that the perpetrator of the stabbings was a 40-year-old male who had received psychiatric care in Algeria before his pilgrimage to Saudi Arabia’s holy sites.
Salah Toumi, the secretary-general of Algeria’s National Union of Tourism and Travel agencies, stated that on a Monday morning, psychological pressure had caused the individual to display abnormal behavior, and they appeared to be anxious for an unknown cause.
The suspect was reported to have committed a fatal stabbing of one pilgrim at the hotel’s reception area and inflicted further stab wounds on a second pilgrim in their room before fleeing the scene.
After reviewing the surveillance camera footage, the Saudi police apprehended him at the Grand Mosque.
The pilgrim, who had shared living quarters with the two deceased pilgrims, is currently in custody as the investigation into the attack is conducted, according to Toumi.
The report stated that a contingent of pilgrims departed from Constantine Airport in eastern Algeria on February 14, destined for Medina, Saudi Arabia, where they remained for three days before the journey to Mecca.
