Hajj pilgrims stopped at Iraqi border
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Iraqis wave to relatives aboard a bus leaving Baghdad on journey to Mecca
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SAFWAN, Iraq (Reuters) -- Thousands of Iraqi Muslims heading to Saudi Arabia to perform the annual hajj pilgrimage were stranded for a second day at the Iraq-Kuwait border and joined an increasingly crowded makeshift camp.
The pilgrims were originally scheduled to make a short stop in the border town of Safwan while applications were processed by Kuwaiti authorities allowing them to cross into Kuwait. From Kuwait, the pilgrims are due to fly to Saudi Arabia.
Expressing growing frustration, pilgrims were told that responsibility for the delay rested with the Saudi embassy in Kuwait which had been slow in granting entrance visas.
"This is ridiculous, I've been here for three hours and there is no food or water," said Mansour Abid, an elderly pilgrim waiting in the steadily expanding campsite.
On Friday, pilgrims who arrived from nearby Basra were told to return home as resources were limited at the camp. On Saturday, pilgrims from the central Iraqi province of Diyala began arriving, leading to huge overcrowding in Safwan.
Local residents provided shelter to pilgrims without tents and offered food and water.
More than 32,000 Iraqis were chosen by lottery to perform the hajj this year, the first pilgrimage for post-Saddam Iraq.
"When we arrived, we were told that we'd be in Safwan for two hours," said Qusay Ahmed, a 32-year-old who has spent more than two days as the border. "We can't see any end in sight."
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