Turkey’s Erdogan defends Saudis after Mecca tragedy

“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. The kingdom has spent billions of dollars to accommodate the growing number of pilgrims and maintain safety and security at Islam’s holy cities of Mecca and Medina for the annual event.

Hundreds of people demonstrated in the Iranian capital, chanting “Death to the Saudi dynasty”.

Shiite powerhouse Iran, Saudi Arabia’s regional rival, has said Riyadh is to blame for the disaster because of its alleged mismanagement of the pilgrimage, which annually draws hundreds of thousands of people.

Among all those countries, Iran immediately appeared to be hardest hit, saying 131 of its pilgrims died and 85 were injured.

Abu Ahmed Akif made the feedback Friday.

Saudi authorities say at the least 719 individuals have been killed and 863 have been injured within the catastrophe.

“The investigations into the incident of the stampede that took place today in Mina, which was perhaps because some pilgrims moved without following instructions by the relevant authorities, will be fast and will be announced as has happened in other incidents”, Falih said in a statement.

Another 13 Indian nationals, including two from Bengal, are injured and recovering at seven hospitals across the twin cities, officials said.

“Our thoughts are with the victims’ families, with the Saudi people as a whole and with all the pilgrims who have travelled to Mecca to celebrate the most important Muslim holiday”. In one of the final steps of the hajj, pilgrims throw stones at three large pillars here in a symbolic casting away of evil.

“They should not lie and say, “It was because this or that, the weather was hot, it was the pilgrims” faults'”.

Iranians comprise the largest group of casualties identified so far.

The accident came almost two weeks after tens of Hajj pilgrims were killed in another tragic incident in Mecca.

Survivor Mahfouz el-Taweel of Egypt told the AP he was in the crowd packed shoulder to shoulder that collided on the same street with another mass of people coming from a different direction.

A Pakistani official said on Friday that 236 Pakistani pilgrims remain missing after the stampede disaster. Both the Afghan authorities and the rebel Taliban provided condolences to these affected.