Jeddah

At least 85 people were killed on Thursday in a stampede at the procession symbolising the stoning of the devil during the annual hajj pilgrimage, medical sources said. ”The number of killed is 85, and the figure is due to rise because most of the victims are in critical condition,” said one medical source.

The death toll from the collapse of an ageing hostel in the holy city of Mecca rose to 53 on Friday, as Saudi rescue teams hunted through the rubble for survivors. The multistorey hotel collapsed on Thursday in the latest deadly tragedy to mark the hajj or annual pilgrimage to Mecca, the holiest place in Islam.

Gunmen suspected of links to al-Qaeda stormed the United States consulate in the Saudi port of Jeddah on Monday, triggering a three-hour siege and a shootout that left three attackers and four guardsmen dead, police and officials said. The brazen attack was the first of its kind on a diplomatic mission in Saudi Arabia.

Former Ugandan dictator Idi Amin has come out of a coma and his condition is improving, a source at a hospital in this Red Sea city said on Wednesday.