SAUDI ARABIA - March 5 - Haj Stampede Kills 35 Pilgrims.

Twelve men and 23 women of various nationalities are crushed to death in the stampede during the devil-stoning ritual at the Jamarat bridge, near the holy city of Mecca. Security men intervened and took control of the situation, ensuring the safety of hundreds of thousands of other pilgrims gathered at the bridge - the scene of a similar stampede in 1998 in which at least 119 people were killed, including some Saudi policemen. On March 6 Interior Minister Prince Nayef said the death toll reached about 40. In 1997, 343 people died in a fire that swept through thousands of tents in Mena, another holy site near Mecca. The government has since spent millions of dollars on fire-proof tents. About 2m Muslim pilgrims from 160 countries are in Saudi Arabia for the pilgrimage, one of the five pillars of Islam.