Pilgrims head out of Saudi after hajj 'success'

Mina (Saudi Arabia) (AFP) - Some 1.4 million Muslim pilgrims from 188 countries started to leave Saudi Arabia on Thursday at the end of what authorities hailed as a successful and incident-free hajj.

Mecca's provincial governor, Prince Khaled al-Faisal bin Abdul Aziz, said the 2013 hajj marked a "qualitative turning point" in the organisation of the annual pilgrimage, marred in previous years by deadly fires and stampedes.

The rites were carried out in a calm atmosphere and free of any political demonstrations, making it a "success" and proving "Islam is a religion of peace, civilisation and progress," he told reporters.

Although the hajj, one of the five pillars of Islam, comes to a close officially on Friday, pilgrims are allowed to leave a day early after taking part in the stoning of the devil ritual.

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