More than 300 died at Hajj pilgrimage

A stampede during one of the last rituals of the Hajj season -- the annual Islamic pilgrimage to Mecca -- has killed more than 300 people and injured 450 others in Saudi Arabia. The stampede occurred Thursday during the ritual known as "stoning the devil" in the tent city of Mina, about 2 miles from Mecca, Islam's holiest city. Hundreds have been killed in past years during the same ceremony. The ministry said the latest death toll is 310, but the numbers have been climbing steadily. Officials deployed 4,000 workers and 220 ambulances and other vehicles to Mina to help with the disaster. In the ritual, crowds of pilgrims throw stones at three pillars, in a re-enactment of an event when the Prophet Abraham stoned the devil and rejected his temptations, according to Muslim traditions. The stoning ritual is done over at least two days, where pilgrims stone the three pillars at Mina -- believed to be where the devil was stoned when he tried to dissuade Abraham from obeying God's orders to slaughter his son. According to tradition, the event was a test from God, who gave Abraham a ram to slaughter instead. Thursday was the third day of the Hajj.

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