Funeral of Saudi King Abdullah begins in Riyadh
The body of the late Saudi King, Abdullah bin Abdulaziz al-Saud, is carried at his funeral in Saudi capital Riyadh. (AAP) AAP
The funeral for Saudi King Abdullah has got under way with foreign leaders gathering in a cavernous mosque in the capital.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif joined Gulf leaders for the funeral prayer at the Imam Turki bin Abdullah mosque in Riyadh on Friday, television pictures showed.
King Abdullah has been replaced by his half-brother Salman as the absolute ruler of the world's top oil exporter and the spiritual home of Islam.
The royal court said in a statement that Abdullah, believed to be around 90, died at 1am local time on Friday, expressing its "great sadness and mourning".
Another of the late monarch's half-brothers, Muqrin, was named the new crown prince.
In his first public statement as the new ruler, the 79-year-old King Salman vowed to maintain a steady course for the conservative kingdom.
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