According to latest reports, 1,531,861 pilgrims have arrived by Friday in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

The General Directorate of Passports said in its daily statistics that 1,432,656 pilgrims arrived by air; 84,892 by land; and 14,331 by sea.

This marked an increase of over 33% compared with the same period last year.

The number of pilgrims from Pakistan reached 167,903 while 157,048 were the number of pilgrims that arrived from India. Indonesian pilgrims that arrived numbered at 280,207.

Meanwhile, Saudi security forces have paraded through Mecca ahead of Hajj, with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and other top officials among those watching.

The military display took place late on Wednesday.

Between two and three million Muslims are expected to travel to Mecca for this year's Hajj, which will take place at the beginning of next month.

source: Alarabiya