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Members of Saudi civil defence try to rescue pilgrims following a crush caused by large numbers of people pushing at Mina, outside the Muslim holy city of Mecca.

Prayers and protests have been staged amid mounting fury over the deaths of more than 700 worshippers during a stampede at the annual hajj pilgrimage.

The hajj is one of the five pillars of Islam, and all able-bodied Muslims are required to make the pilgrimage to Mecca at least once in their lives.

“It is built mostly along sectarian and ideological lines – Saudi Arabia as the leader of the Sunni Muslim world, and Iran as the leader of the Shia Muslim world”, Martin Reardon, a senior vice president with The Soufan Group, wrote on Aljazeera.com in March....

AP reporter Aya Batrawy, speaking on Thursday’s All Things Considered, said that “from the survivors that I spoke to, they say that for them, it’s pretty clear that the Saudi authorities didn’t manage the crowds properly”.

Medics rush to the site where pilgrims were crushed and trampled to…

Maj. Gen. Mansour al-Turki said that the fatigue of pilgrims, and high temperatures – soaring above 43 degrees Celsius, or 110 degrees Fahrenheit – might have also played a role in the stampede, according to the AP.

At least 863 people were injured, the directorate said. Afghan News Agency on Twitter, become a fan on Facebook.

The victims were crushed to death and more than 850 other injured when two groups of pilgrims arrived at crossroads on Street 204 at the tent city of Mina.

The Saudi health minister Khalid Aal-Falih, said in a statement that the stampede may have been caused by “some pilgrims who did not follow the guidelines and instructions issued by the responsible authorities”.

However, the protests and the tensions show deep friction between the Sunni kingdom and the Shiite powerhouse.

A man from Kerala identified as Mohammed from Kodungaloor in Thrissur district was among the pilgrims killed in the incident, Kerala’s Rural Development and Non Resident Keralite Affairs (NORKA) Minister K C Joseph said in Thiruvananthapuram.

Saudi Arabia’s civil defense directorate said the crush happened at around 9 a.m. local time (2 a.m. ET) after there was a “sudden rise” in the number of pilgrims traveling along a major road leading to the site of a stone-throwing ritual. Another stampede at...

Saudi Arabia’s civil defense directorate says at least 453 people were killed in a stampede on the outskirts of the holy city of Mecca during the annual hajj pilgrimage.

The Moroccan embassy in Ryiadh said there are no casualty among the Moroccan pilgrims. The world is on the main street from the middle of Mecca to the Hill of Arafat, revered by Muslims as the place where Muhammad gave his farewell sermon to Muslims who had accompanied him to...