Mosque ‘cleared of all Muslim extremists’

Press, 5 December 1979, Page 8

Mosque ‘cleared of all Muslim extremists’

NZPA-Reuter Riyadh All the religious extremists who invaded Mecca’s Grand Mosque last month have been captured or killed and the Muslim sacred site is now clear of renegades, the Saudi Arabian Interior Minister (Prince Naif Bin Abdel Aziz) has announced. He said Saudi troops had removed the last invaders from the basement tunnels of the mosque, but gave no details. The Prince said in an official announcement that a statement would be issued later. The extremists entered the huge mosque on November

20 and took scores of hostages. Saudi officials, given permission by the religious authorities, sent in troops who routed most of the invaders in gun-battles last week, but others held out in the tunnels.

Officials have not given casualty figures. Estimates of the number of invaders, hostages, and soldiers killed range from 50 to several hundred. It is believed the men who tried to seize the mosque were members of the southern Oteiba tribe, among the groups defeated a half century ago by the Saud family that founded the kingdom. Witnesses say the in-

vaders demanded that Muslims recognise one of their number as a new messiah. For the last two Fridays, Sabbath prayers were called from Medina, instead of Mecca, because extremists still held parts of the twostorey mosque and its seven minarets. The mosque is Islam’s holiest site. Within its courtyard is the Kaaba, a 22mhigh building said to have been built by the prophet Abraham and his son, Ismael. Muslims bow toward the Kaaba when they pray and are supposed to make a pilgrimage there at least once in their lives.