Riyadh: A Frenchman has committed suicide by throwing himself off the roof of the Grand Mosque in Mecca, Saudi and French officials said on Saturday.
"A foreigner threw himself from the roof of the Grand Mosque in Mecca" to the courtyard below, "resulting in his instant death", Saudi police told SPA.
A French foreign ministry official told AFP in Paris that the dead man was French but gave no further details.
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.