Five Saudi security agents were killed in a shootout with terror suspects in the Saudi capital Thursday, as nearly 2 million Muslims from around the world began the annual hajj pilgrimage to Mecca amid heightened security after a year of terror attacks in the kingdom.
Suspected terrorists exchanged fire with Saudi security forces raiding a house Thursday in Riyadh, and the Interior Ministry said five Saudi agents and the father of a suspect were killed. Several suspects were detained.
But in Mecca, 500 miles to the west, pilgrims said they were too overwhelmed by the spiritual experience of the hajj to be worried about terrorism.
"I do not think that any real Muslim dares to do anything to the pilgrims, God's guests," said Libyan pilgrim Bakr Salem. "And even if anything happened, nothing is better than dying in God's house as a martyr."
http://abcnews.go.com/wire/World/ap20040129_1407.html
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