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A stampede in Mecca in 2006 left 435 pilgrims
dead [EPA] |
A timeline of major incidents and accidents during the Hajj pilgrimage, one of the five pillars of Islam, held in Saudi Arabia every year.
1979 - About 250 armed Saudi Arabian members of a religious sect take over the Grand Mosque in Mecca. More than 100 fighters are killed, along with 127 Saudi troops, during a two-week siege.
1987 - Around 400 people, mainly Iranian Shia pilgrims, are killed in clashes with Saudi security forces during anti-Western protests in Mecca.
1989 - One pilgrim is killed and 16 wounded after a bomb explodes near the grand mosque. Saudi Arabia later executes 16 foreigners found guilty of planting the bombs.
1990 - Stampede in a tunnel at Mecca causes the deaths of 1,426 pilgrims, most from Indonesia and Turkey.
1994 - Stampede near Jamarat Bridge in Mina, east of Mecca, kills 270.
1997 – A fire kills 343 pilgrims and injures 1500 at camp in Mina.
1998 - Stampede near Jamarat Bridge kills 119 when people fall off an underpass.
2001 - Stampede near Jamarat Bridge kills 35.
2003 - Stampede near Jamarat Bridge kills 14 people.
2004 – A 27-minute stampede near Jamarat Bridge kills at least 251 during the ritual knowns as the stoning of the devil.
2006 - Stampede kills 345, the highest number in 16 years, with 600 also injured.