Saudi police say 1,100 photos of dead are from start of hajj

MECCA, Saudi Arabia (AP) - Saudi Arabia's Interior Ministry says the nearly 1,100 photos distributed to foreign diplomats to help identify nationals who've died in the hajj are from the entire pilgrimage and not just a disaster near Mecca.

Interior Ministry spokesman Maj. Gen. Mansour al-Turki told The Associated Press Tuesday the pictures given to diplomats also include people who died of natural causes. Others are from the 111 people who died when a crane crashed into Mecca's Grand Mosque on Sept. 11.

Saudi authorities say the death toll from the crush of pilgrims in Mina, near the holy city of Mecca, is still 769 people.

Officials in India and Pakistan said a day earlier that Saudi officials gave their diplomats some 1,090 pictures of those killed in last Thursday's disaster in Mina.