Saudi Arabia deploys 50,000 security men during al-Haj rituals

The Saudi ministry of the interior has deployed some 50,000 security members in Mecca on the occasion of the approaching al-Haj season as the city is expected to be visited during the coming days by one and a half million pilgrims.

Maj. Gen. Mansour al-Turkey said that between 70 to 80% of these forces will monitor the traffic movement and attend to the security of the pilgrims while some 10,000 security men will take care of developments related to security.

The security official indicated that "terrorist attacks" took place in Mecca outside the time of al-Haj season, noting that the increase of security men this year aims at dealing with the increased number of pilgrims.

Since May 2003, some 100 persons were killed in different attacks carried out by Islamists gunmen against western targets.

Moreover, the large annual al-Haj season has been witnessing in many cases bloody incidents as a result of overcrowding where people get trampled on. On 2004 251 pilgrims were suffocated in Mona near Mecca in such incidents.

Al-Haj season for this year starts on January 18 and ends after three days later on the first day of Eid al-Adha.