Hajj

At least 753 pilgrims were killed while 18 Turks remain missing after a human stampede outside the Muslim holy city of Mecca in Saudi Arabia, where some two million people are performing an annual hajj pilgrimage.

At least 717 pilgrims were killed on Sept. 24 in a crush at Mina, outside the Muslim holy city of Mecca, where some two million people are performing the annual haj pilgrimage, Saudi Arabia's civil defence authority said. 

Muslims worldwide, including those in Turkey, are set to celebrate Islam's holy Feast of Sacrifice - known as Eid al-Adha in Arabic - with millions of Muslims across the world making a pilgrimage this week to Saudi Arabia.

The four-day celebration begins on Sept. 24 in Turkey and most other countries with a predominantly Muslim population.  

A total of 332 pilgrims have died so far while performing this year's Hajj pilgrimage, according to officials quoted Sept. 21 by the official Saudi Press Agency (SPA).

While the news agency did not indicate the reasons for the deaths, it is believed that 107 of them were caused by last week's crane collapse inside Mecca's Grand Mosque.

A major Islamic holiday is coming up and Turkey's biggest city is now home to hundreds of thousands of cows and sheep from all over the country to be bought and sold.

Beginning Sept. 24, Muslims will celebrate the four-day Eid al-Adha, also known as the "Feast of the Sacrifice," which celebrates the Prophet Abraham's willingness to sacrifice his son for God.

'People are afraid of traveling with their animals. So, the number of livestock has naturally decreased in big cities,' breeder Yunus Coktin said, referring to the outlawed PKK's renewed armed campaign The hustle and bustle of breeders and buyers, the shouts of bargaining, the shaking of hands and, of course, the overpowering smell of countless of cows and sheep...

The number of Turkish nationals killed when a crane collapsed on Sept. 11 at a mosque in Mecca teeming with Muslim pilgrims has risen to eight, Turkish authorities said Sept. 13, while Saudi Arabia's King Salman has vowed to find out what caused the incident.

The number of Turkish nationals killed when a crane collapsed on Sept. 11 in a mosque in Mecca teeming with Muslim pilgrims has risen to seven, Turkish authorities said Sept. 13, while Saudi Arabia's King Salman has vowed to find out what caused the incident.

Saudi Arabia has opened an investigation into the causes for the accident in Mecca, in which  at least 107 people were killed when a construction crane crashed into the Grand Mosque, the BBC reported on Saturday.

At least 87 people were killed and 154 injured when a construction crane crashed into the Grand Mosque of Saudi Arabia?s holy Muslim city of Mecca on Sept. 11, authorities said.