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King Fahd to

pay Haj expenses of

300 Kosovars

RIYADH: King Fahd of Saudi Arabia is to pay the expenses of 300 Kosovars to enable them to perform the annual Haj pilgrimage, the official SPA agency reported on Monday.

"King Fahd has given instructions to invite 300 Muslims from Kosovo to enable them to perform the pilgrimage to Makkah," Chairman of the Saudi Red Crescent, Abdel Rahman al-Sowailam told the agency.

Last year King Fahd paid the cost of 110 Ukrainian and 100 Bosnian pilgrims.

Since 1993 some 2,150 Bosnian Muslims have performed the Haj at the king's expense.

The Haj is one of the duties which all Muslims who can afford it are expected to perform at least once in their lifetime. It draws about two million Muslims each year, half of them coming from outside Saudi Arabia.

This year's pilgrimage falls in March.ÑAFP