Adjust fire, over..., mark the target, fire for effect... Options

[cupcake]

Millions descend on Mecca for annual hajj

MECCA, Saudi Arabia (AFP) - Around two million Muslims will Thursday begin the annual hajj pilgrimage to Mecca amid increased safety measures aimed at preventing stampedes which each year claim scores of lives.


The Hajj Commission reported that more than 1.6 million people had arrived in the kingdom by Tuesday and more were on their way.

Saudis and other Muslims resident in the country are expected to swell the number of the faithful undertaking the hajj to some two million -- about the same number as last year.

The official SPA news agency said Interior Minister Prince Nayef bin Abdul Aziz, who also heads the Hajj Supreme Committee, had taken charge of security arrangements and was marshalling security and civil defence forces in the holy city.

Nayef warned that security forces would crack down on any attempt to undermine the hajj.

"We hope nothing will happen" to disrupt the pilgrimage, but "we will act firmly and vigorously" to deal with any risk, he told reporters late Tuesday in Mina near Mecca.

"We will not tolerate any activity other than (hajj rituals) whatever their nature," the Saudi official added when asked about the risks of sectarian tensions during the pilgrimage.

His remarks come against a backdrop of the daily Sunni-Shiite violence in Iraq which has prompted some commentators to express concerns about the risks of a proxy conflict between Sunni-dominated Saudi Arabia and Shiite-majority Iran.

Since the 1979 Islamic revolution, Iran has insisted on holding a rally during the hajj to denounce Israel and the United States, defying the Saudi ban on political activity during the religious occasion.

The last hajj in January was marred by a deadly stampede which killed 364 people in the arid valley of Mina during a ritual which involves casting stones at pillars representing Satan.

A similar stampede in 2004 saw 251 people trampled to death during the stoning ceremony.

Both tragedies occurred at the entrance to the Jamarat bridge, from where pilgrims cast their stones at three pillars that are supposed to symbolise the powers of evil.

Immediately after the last hajj's stampede, religious leaders ordered the dismantling of the bridge, which created a dangerous bottleneck, and organisers this year are confident a similar tragedy will be averted.

Since many of those making the pilgrimage are elderly people who have saved up all their lives to be able to make the pilgrimage, hundreds die during the pilgrimage each year of natural causes.

The Hajj Supreme Committee said Wednesday that 243 pilgrims had died since arriving in the kingdom this month, generally those suffering from heart problems.

The only other incident was a short-circuit at a hotel housing Yemeni pilgrims in Mecca on Monday which caused a fire that was quickly put out, though some people were taken to hospital suffering from smoke inhalation.

The health ministry said more than 9,600 medical personnel have been mobilised and 21 field hospitals set up at Mecca and Medina, Islam's two holiest places, for this year's pilgrimage.

The hajj will begin on Thursday, with the faithful assembling at Mina.

At dawn on Friday, they will begin moving towards Mount Arafat where they will spend the day praying and asking for God's forgiveness at the summit, in a symbolic waiting for the last judgment.

The pilgrims then return to Mina to sacrifice an animal, usually a sheep, for Eid al-Adha, the Feast of the Sacrifice, on Saturday.

They will spend another two days there for the stoning ceremony that symbolises a willingness to renounce evil.

The stoning rite is based on the story of Abraham. He is believed to have thrown pebbles at the devil who was taunting him as he led his son Ismail to the mountains near Mina to slaughter him as God commanded in a test of the prophet's faith.

The pilgrimage, which ends on Monday, is one of the five pillars of Islam, and is an obligation for all Muslims at least once during their lives if they can afford to do so.

[cupcake]

1,600,000 hadjis / "x" daisy cutters = martyrs

solve for "x"

[Hartmann]

Great title.