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Saudi Arabia said Tuesday it was prepared to confront any threats to the security of 2 million Muslims gathering for the annual haj pilgrimage.

"We are ready for anything that could happen," Interior Minister Prince Nayef bin Abdul-Aziz said after a tour of the holy city of Mecca to check facilities for the pilgrims.

This year's haj is the first since suicide bombings in the Saudi capital Riyadh killed more than 50 people last year and also follows the U.S. invasion of Iraq that has drawn Muslim militants toward Saudi Arabia's northern neighbor.

Diplomats say the Saudi government is deeply worried the haj, which in past years has been plagued by stampedes and accidents, could become a target for attack or be used as a cover for militants to infiltrate the kingdom.

"We always say there is no guarantee that nothing could happen but we trust the security forces to be able to do their job," Prince Nayef told reporters.

"All efforts are being made to secure the house of God. In past years and this year we give confidence to the pilgrims so they can safely carry out their rituals."

Most of the 1.2 million pilgrims expected from all over the world have already passed through the huge tented haj terminal at Jeddah airport, near the Red Sea coast. The rest of the 2 million pilgrims will be residents of the kingdom.

Saudi Health Minister Hamad al-Manei said Tuesday extra precautions were being taken to prevent the entry of any pilgrims affected by the Asian bird flu virus.

ANTI-TERROR FORCES

Around 5,000 troops including anti-terrorist forces in black balaclavas, elite special forces and crowd control personnel performed a march past Prince Nayef on the plain of Arafat, one of the main pilgrimage sites.

Nayef did not say how many troops in total would be deployed to keep the pilgrims safe. Any attack on Muslims in Mecca by supporters of Saudi-born militant Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda network would be a blow to the Saudi ruling family's authority.

Last November Prince Nayef said a cache of weapons and explosives uncovered in Mecca could have been prepared for attacks against pilgrims.

Earlier this month one of several captured militants shown on state television said he had been taken to a training camp outside Mecca. But Prince Nayef denied that any such camps had existed anywhere in the kingdom.

"We have no camps for training or terrorism today or yesterday," he said.

The main rites of the five-day pilgrimage begin Friday.

Haj is an obligation for every able-bodied Muslim who can afford to make the trip.

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