MAKKAH, Jan 23: Hundreds of thousands of Muslims bid Makkah farewell on Sunday after performing Haj amid unusual heavy rain. Most of the 2.5 million faithful, more than 1.5 million of whom came from abroad, were to start leaving Makkah on Sunday or Monday.

Before leaving, they were rushing to shops to buy gifts and souvenirs to take back home, with prayer beads topping their shopping list. This year's pilgrimage, during which Saudi leaders and dignitaries repeatedly stressed that terrorism was totally alien to Islam, went without major incident.

The Saudi press said three pilgrims were killed on Saturday during scrambles to "stone the devil" in the Mina valley near Makkah, but there were no tragedies of the scale of the stampede which claimed 251 lives last year.

The Saudi government said it had spent $28 million modernizing the holy site to make it easier for the faithful to throw their pebbles at the "jamarat" and on installing extra cameras to allow the heavy flow to be monitored.

Three pillars symbolizing Satan have been replaced by 25 meter high walls which stones can hit more easily, and the concrete enclosure of the site has been coated with rubber to dampen the shocks. -AFP