Saudi state television interrupted regular broadcasting with recitations of the Koran and one Western diplomat said he had information that King Fahd had died in hospital yesterday. “Sources at King Faisal Specialist Hospital have informed us that he (King Fahd) is dead,” the diplomat said. He did not give further details. A Saudi official source told Reuters that a member of the royal family had died yesterday.

“Most probably it is the king, everybody is waiting for the official announcement. We are all in a state of alert,” he said. Fahd, who was believed to be 83 and had been in poor health, entered hospital on May 27 with acute pneumonia. Saudi Arabia is the world’s biggest oil exporter and is a close ally of the United States. Fahd’s half-brother Crown Prince Abdullah, who has been running the kingdom’s day-to-day affairs since Fahd suffered a stroke in 1995, will automatically become king. Defence Minister Prince Sultan will be the new crown prince. In the past two years, the kingdom has faced a violent al Qaeda campaign to end seven decades of the royal family’s rule in Saudi Arabia, home to two of Islam’s holiest shrines.