New Delhi: Around two million Muslims are heading from Mecca to the valley of Mina as the Haj pilgrimage gets under way in Saudi Arabia amid heavy security.
Draped in white robes, the pilgrims walked or boarded buses to Mina, five kilometers east of the holy city of Mecca, to begin tracing the journey made by Prophet Mohammed more than 1,400 years ago.
The annual pilgrimage has been marred by a number of fatal disasters over the past few years, including fires and stampedes.
The pilgrims will move to Mount Arafat on Friday where they will spend the day praying and asking for God's forgiveness in a symbolic waiting for the last judgment.
Millions of Muslims from around the world marched through a desert valley outside Mecca on Thursday, on the first day of the annual Haj pilgrimage.
On Thursday morning - as they have for the past few days - hundreds of thousands opened their pilgrimage by circling the Kaaba, the black cubic stone in Mecca, Islam's holiest site, which Muslims face when they perform their daily prayers.
This year's Haj takes place amid increasing worries across the Islamic world - over the bloodshed in Iraq, violence in the Palestinian territories and a new war in Somalia.
More than 30,000 police and other security forces have fanned out around the holy sites to help smooth traffic around ritual sites that have been plagued with deadly stampedes.
A spokesperson from the Red Crescent said that significant resources had been provided to ensure emergency services were well equipped.
(With agency inputs)
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