100,000 Saudi troops to protect holy sites for the hajj

 MAKKAH (Pajhwok) More than 100,000 Saudi security forces will help protect more than the 2 million worshippers expected to participate in the annual Haj pilgrimage this week, a senior spokesman said on Tuesday.

Saudi Arabia, which has the guardianship of Islam’s holiest sites and organizes the Haj, has been streamlining its security for this major event.

Interior Ministry security spokesman Maj. Gen. Mansour Al-Turki said the security services had dismantled a number of militant cells in Makkah and Madinah over the past few years.

He confirmed that nearly 1.72 mln pilgrims have been confirmed to have flown into the kingdom over the past few days whereas an additional 200,000 pilgrims from inside the country will also take part in the annual Hajj pilgrimage this year.

“From our expertise and experience with Al Qaeda and other terrorist organizations, we know that their members do not disappear just because the organization is defeated,” he said in an interveiw with Retuers  today.

“So we do not overlook the reality of such potential threats and we take all necessary preventative measures.”

Turki said strict measures were in place at the entrances to Makkah, Madinah and other holy sites as well as airports and seaports.

Asked if the authorities had detected any specific plots against this year’s Haj, he said: “Not at all. We have not detected anything but that does not mean we are ignoring what the terrorist groups could try to do.”

“We take each threat very seriously even if we don’t announce it.”

Turki said the security forces had taken all necessary measures to prevent a stampede like the one that killed hundreds of pilgrims in 2015, without providing details.

But he also urged pilgrims to abide by their assigned schedule for performing the sacred rituals.

“Each group must abide by the specified paths assigned to each while throwing the jamarat,” he said, referring to one of the critical stages of Haj, when pilgrims conduct the ritual stoning of the devil. — Reuters

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