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Officials in Saudi Arabia declared a successful end to this year’s hajj pilgrimage, which drew 2.3 million Muslims from around the world without reports of major problems.

Prince Khalid al-Faisal, who led the government-run committee that oversaw the hajj, on September 3 said this year’s celebration attracted 30 percent more people than the event last year.

“More than 2 million pilgrims have come to this holy land in order to embody the correct humanitarian image of Muslims,” Faisal said.

He added that no significant problems were reported in the five-day event.

In recent years, the hajj has been hit by deadly riots, fires, and stampedes.

The 2015 hajj saw some 2,300 pilgrims, many of them from Iran, crushed to death in a ritual near Mecca -- a tragedy that led to rising tensions between the host Saudis and rival Iran.

Tehran ordered a boycott of the event in 2016, but they allowed participation again this year.

As host, Saudi Arabia has made great effort to make hajj rituals easier and safer for pilgrims, including widening roads and deploying more than 100,000 security personnel.

Muslims are expected to perform the hajj at least once in their lifetime if they are fit enough and have the financial means to make the pilgrimage

Based on reporting by dpa and AP

Muslims around the world are celebrating the start of the Eid al-Adha holiday on September 1 as some 2 million Muslim pilgrims carry out the final rites of the annual hajj in Saudi Arabia.

After dawn, hundreds of thousands of people began a symbolic ritual of stoning the devil amid tight security in the desert valley of Mina, near the holy city of Mecca, two years after a stampede killed some 2,300 pilgrims at the event.

The pilgrims cast pebbles at three large columns, chanting "God is the greatest" each time.

The final days of hajj coincide with Eid al-Ahda, the multiday festival also known as the Feast of Sacrifice. Eid al-Adha and Eid al-Fitr, which marks the end of the holy Muslim month of Ramadan, are the two most important festivals in the Islamic calendar.

It is traditional to slaughter livestock for Eid al-Adha and distribute the meat to the poor.

Most pilgrims will remain in Mina until September 4 before completing the hajj. They will then circle the cube-shaped Kaaba in Mecca, Islam's most sacred site, before departing.

Following the 2015 stampede in Mina, the Saudi government has widened some roads to try to improve the safety of the hajj. More than 100,000 security forces have been deployed there during the hajj to assist pilgrims.

Based on reporting by AP, dpa