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Tehran, YJC.-- Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said on Wednesday that the country will spare no effort to protect the holy shrines of Shiite imams in the neighboring Iraq against possible terrorist attacks.

MECCA, Saudi Arabia, Sept 30, 2014 (AFP) - As they gather in Saudi Arabia's holy city of Mecca for the annual hajj, some pilgrims have denounced atrocities by Islamic State group jihadists as "a virus" threatening the world.

ALONG with a billion Muslims across the globe, I turn to Mecca in Saudi Arabia every day to say my prayers. But when I visit the holy cities of Mecca and Medina, the resting place of the Prophet Muhammad, I am forced to leave overwhelmed with anguish at the power of extremism running amok in Islam's birthplace. Non-Muslims are forbidden to enter this part of the kingdom, so there is no international scrutiny of the ideas and practices that affect the 13 million Muslims who visit each year.