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Two AlgerianÌýpilgrimsÌýwere stabbed to death in the Saudi holy city of Mecca, according to reports, with a fellow traveller being the chief suspect in the case.

The two victims were in Mecca to perform the Umrah pilgrimage when they were killed. The alleged assailant fled the scene but was later arrested, Saudi police said.

The suspect had previously been treated in Algeria for mental disorders before travelling to Mecca with a group of pilgrims, including the two victims, Algerian media said, who arrived in Mecca on 14 February.

"On the morning (of Monday), he behaved abnormally as a result of psychological pressure and he was nervous for an unknown reason that made him abnormal," the secretary-general of Algeria's National Union of Tourism and Travel Agencies Salah Toumi was quoted by Gulf News as saying.

Toumi claimed the suspect killed one pilgrim at the reception of the hotel they were staying at and stabbed the second person in his room before fleeing.

No further details on the incident were given.