35 die in Mecca pilgrimage stampede
A stampede in the crowds performing the Muslim pilgrimage has killed 35 people, the official Saudi Press Agency reports.
SPA says the 23 women and 12 men were killed during the symbolic stoning of the devil near Mecca. It said an unknown number of people were injured.
The hajj ritual has been a source of tragedy in the past. A 1998 stampede killed 180 people, while in 1997 a fire in Mina, the city where the stoning takes place, killed more than 340 pilgrims and injured 1,500.
In 1994, a stampede killed 270 pilgrims. The most deadly hajj-related tragedy was a 1990 stampede in which 1,426 pilgrims were killed.
Nearly two million Muslims from all over the world completed the hajj, the annual pilgrimage that is a pillar of the Islamic faith.
Wave after wave of pilgrims dressed in almost identical seamless white robes cast seven pebbles the size of chickpeas at three pillars that symbolise the devil.
"In the name of God, God is great," they repeated.
The pillars symbolising the devil are at the centre of giant ramps built to accommodate the huge crowds of pilgrims who must complete the ritual by dusk.
Muslim tradition says it was here that the devil tried to tempt the Prophet Abraham to disobey God by refusing to sacrifice his son, a legend common to Islam, Christianity and Judaism.
