Mecca - Tens of thousands of Muslim pilgrims started leaving Saudi Arabia yesterday after the annual haj pilgrimage ended with no repeat of the kind of disasters that have overshadowed it in some recent years.
Pilgrims threw stones for the third day at pillars symbolising the devil on Monday, followed by the closing ritual in Mecca's Grand Mosque of circling the cube-shaped Kaaba, which Muslims face five times a day to pray.