First group of Iraqi pilgrims heads for Mecca

The first group of Iraqi pilgrims has left for Mecca to perform the pilgrimage.

The advisor of Endowments and Religious Affairs Ministry, Mohammed Ali El-Keiss, said the pilgrims will head to Saudi Arabia this year by buses and planes.

Saudi Arabia has set up six bureaus for civil services in Mecca to facilitate the performance of the Haj by 22,000 Iraqis who are expected to arrive in Saudi Arabia.

Officials from the Saudi Pilgrimage Ministry said Jordanian airplanes will carry some pilgrims, through arrangements with the United Nations.

The Iraqi government had prevented its citizens from performing the pilgrimage after the Gulf War for economic reasons, yet it retracted its decision last year and 1,500 citizens performed the pilgrimage last year.

Last April, an Iraqi plane breached the air restrictions placed on Iraq, and was able to carry 104 pilgrims to Jeddah, and the Saudi authorities allowed them in, although they did not have any visas.