Tehran, Oct 8, IRNA -- Head of SEC's Research Center Ali Akbar Velayati blamed the Saudi government for the recent stampede near Mecca which killed over 4,000 pilgrims, and called for clarifying fate of those who have gone missing during the Hajj rituals in Mecca.

'A number of bodies (of the killed Iranian pilgrims) have not yet been repatriated to Iran and a number of others are still missing, whose fate should come under light rapidly,' Velayati, Head of State Expediency Council's Research Center, told reporters in the city of Mashhad on Thursday.

He underlined that the Saudi government must transfer the Iranian pilgrims who have survived the Mina incident to the country and deliver the bodies of those who have been killed in the tragedy.

Velayati reiterated that the cause of the catastrophe should be specified by a fact-finding committee.

By IRNA