Saudi vows safe haj

By Jonathan Wright

MECCA, Saudi Arabia (Reuters) - Saudi Arabia vowed to maintain the safety of over 2 million Muslims performing haj pilgrimage next week, citing new procedures at a bridge where hundreds have died before in stampedes.

Around 1.64 million people have arrived so far in the Mecca area from around the world in recent weeks, ahead of the gruelling five-day ritual which begins on Monday.

At least half a million will join from inside Saudi Arabia, though final numbers are not clear because of Muslims who slip into Mecca for haj without official permits.

"We will make every effort to ensure the security and safety of the guests of God," Interior Minister Prince Nayef told reporters late on Saturday at the plain of Arafat where pilgrims will spend the day on Tuesday.

He said there was no link between this year's haj and 208 men detained last month in the latest of a series of sweeps against suspected militants in Saudi Arabia, the world's biggest oil exporter and home to Islam's holiest sites.

The haj, one of the world's biggest displays of mass religious devotion, has been marred in previous years by fires, hotel collapses and police clashes with protesters and deadly stampedes caused by overcrowding.

The government is also wary of any militant actions. Al Qaeda-linked militants launched a campaign to destabilise the U.S.-allied monarchy in 2003. Radicals opposed to the Saudi royals seized control of the Grand Mosque for two weeks in 1979.

Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad will attend the rites this year, raising the prospect of possible political activity by Iranian Shi'ite pilgrims.