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World’s second largest Muslim gathering wraps up

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Biswa Ijtema, the world’s second largest Muslim gathering after the Hajj, wrapped up on Sunday morning in Bangladesh as thousands of devotees clambered onto crowded trains to travel home.

Yesterday marked Akheri Munajat, the third and concluding day of Biswa Itjema, which means ‘world gathering’ in Bengali.

The nonpolitical event focuses on prayers for world peace and takes place in Tongi, just north of the capital Dhaka, on the banks of the Turag River.

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Nine people died at the gathering, including one foreigner, all from complications related to old age, according to the Dhaka Tribune.

Fiftyfour medical camps were set up at Biswa Itjema and 8,000 devotees experienced illness.

More than two million people from Bangladesh and abroad attended Biswa Itjema, while in past years as many as five million have attended.

Some eleven thousand foreign devotees from about 100 countries attended the threeday event, the Dhaka Tribune reported.

Starting in 2012, the gathering was split into two phases to address concerns related to accommodation and overcrowding, according to the Bangladesh Chronicle.

Yesterday concluded the first phase of the gathering, while the second phase of Itjema is due to run from Jan 1517.