Riyadh, Asharq Al-Awsat- Leaders of a number of Arab, Islamic and other friendly countries arrived yesterday to participate in the funeral prayers for the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, King Fahd bin Abdulaziz.

They included Sultan Bolkiah of Brunei; Abdullah Wade, Hamid Karzai, Mahmoud Abbas, Iyaduddin Ahmad, Ilham Aleyev,Ould Al-Taya, the Presidents of Senegal, Afghanistan, Palestine, Bangladesh, Azerbaijan and Mauritania respectively.

Meanwhile, Prince Rashid bin Hassan II as well as Dr Ibrahim Al-Jaafari, the Iraqi Premier and Adnas Terzich, the Premier of Bosnia-Herzegovina, Sultan Qaboos of Oman and Sudanese Vice-President Ali Othman Mohammed Taha also participated in the funeral prayers for the late King Fahd.

Other heads of state and government officials included; Bahrain”s King Hamad bin Eisa Al-Khalifa; Tunisian President Zine-al-abdine bin Ali; Djibouti President Isma”il Jaila; Iraqi President Jalal Al-Talbani; Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf; Algerian President Abdulaziz Boutaflika, Mali President Amado Tomani; Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad; Czech President Klaus Havel, and Iraqi Vice-President Ghazi Al-Yawir ,Sheikh Sabah Alahmad Aljabir Alsabah, Kuwait”s premier, and the accompanying delegation; Sheikh Khalifah bin Zayed Al Nahayan, United Arab Emirates” President, and the accompanying delegation; President Mohammad Hosni Mubarak of Egypt and the accompanying delegation; Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifah Al Thani, the Emir of Qatar, and the accompanying delegation; and Italy”s Senate Speaker Barsollo Biera also arrived in the Saudi Capital to attend the funeral prayers.

Elsewhere, Prince Salman bin Abdulaziz, the Governor of the Riyadh Region and the sons of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques late King Fahd bin Abdulaziz, received condolences from princes, dignitaries and citizens for the death of the late King at the prince”s palace yesterday.