Riyadh rejects requests by 40 countries to increase their Haj quota this year because of development projects now under way in Mecca and Medina.

RIYADH // Saudi Arabia has rejected requests by 40 countries to increase their Haj quota this year because of development projects now under way in Mecca and Medina.
"The ministry has apologised to all countries which had asked to increase the number of their pilgrims this year ... [because of] the giant development projects in Mecca and Medina which make it difficult to accommodate more numbers," Bandar Al Hajjar, the Haj minister, was reported as saying.
Every Muslim country has a Haj quota of 1,000 pilgrims per million inhabitants.
The quota system was imposed after an attempt by Saudi police to stifle a demonstration by Iranian pilgrims holding an anti-US and anti-Israel protest in 1987 sparked clashes in which 402 people died, including 275 Iranians.
Last year, nearly three million Muslim pilgrims performed the Haj, the world's largest annual gathering.
The authorities had not indicated that they would be able to accommodate more pilgrims this year.
Saudi King Abdullah has officially launched a 40-billion riyal (Dh39.2bn) extension project of the Grand Mosque in Mecca.
The peak of this year's Haj is expected to take place on or near October 25.
The Haj is one of the five pillars of Islam and must be performed at least once in a lifetime by all those Muslims who are able to do so.