Muslim pilgrims start trek home

Muslim pilgrims start trek home

SAUDI ARABIA: Muslim worshipers began leaving holy Islamic sites
in Saudi Arabia on Thursday, the fifth and final day of the haj
pilgrimage which was overshadowed this year by a looming U.S.-led
war on Iraq.

The bulk of the two million pilgrims started trekking out of
Mina, in western Saudi Arabia, for the nearby Muslim holy city of
Mecca where they will perform a final ritual of circling the
revered Kaaba, Islam's most sacred shrine, before heading home.

Fourteen pilgrims were crushed to death at Mina's Jamarat
Bridge on Tuesday during a traditionally accident-prone phase of
the haj, where pilgrims stone a pillar symbolizing the devil.

In 2001 at least 35 people died in a stampede at the bridge
and 119 died in a similar incident in 1998. The haj has been
prone to disasters, but in its bloodiest tragedy in 1990, 1,426
pilgrims were trampled to death in a tunnel. --Reuters