Saudi state of alert after king hospitalized
Friday, May 27, 2005 Posted: 2:33 PM EDT (1833 GMT)

http://www.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/meast/...eut/index.html

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia (Reuters) -- Saudi Arabia declared a state of alert and cancelled all leave of its security forces on Friday after ailing King Fahd was taken to hospital, an Interior Ministry official said.

"The authorities declared a state of alert, cancelled all leave of the security forces and put forces on standby after the king was admitted to hospital," the official told Reuters.

The ruler of the world's top oil exporter was taken to King Faisal Specialist Hospital in Riyadh on Friday evening with a fever and water in his lungs.

"King Fahd was running a high temperature for three days and this caused concern and required scans, tests and some treatment," a Saudi official told Reuters.

The monarch, in his early 80s, suffered a stroke in 1995. Day-to-day rule of the Gulf Arab state passed to his half-brother Crown Prince Abdullah after his stroke.

Medical sources said the king had a lung infection and that a CAT scan would be performed.

"King Fahd entered King Faisal Specialist Hospital in Riyadh this evening to undergo some medical examinations," SPA quoted a palace statement as saying. It gave no further details.

"We ask God to keep and care for the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques and grant him health and well being," the statement said.

The monarch has been ailing for the last decade and rumors about his condition have frequently surfaced in Saudi Arabia and on international oil markets.

Fahd underwent eye surgery to remove a cataract in 2003 in Riyadh. The year before that he had a similar operation on his other eye at a Geneva hospital.

Saudi Arabia is the birthplace of Islam and of al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden. It has been battling a two-year campaign of violence by al Qaeda supporters.