Three million Muslims in Bangladesh for Islamic celebration

More than three million Muslims have gathered in Bangladesh for what's regarded as Islam's second-largest event after the Hajj pilgrimage in Saudi Arabia.

Clerics, scholars, foreign visitors and Bangladeshis took part in the World Congregation of Islamic Preachers in the town of Tongi.

The event has been held annually since 1966 on the banks of the Turag River in the industrial town near the capital, Dhaka.

Sitting in cars, buses, boats, trains and rooftops of homes and factories, the pilgrims listened to sermons and recitations from the Quran, Islam's holy book and observed a noon prayer, conducted in Arabic by an Indian cleric.

The gathering is sponsored by an organisation of Muslim preachers based in New Delhi, India, and is dedicated to teaching the tenets of Islam and promotes peace and harmony, but shuns politics.

Television cameras were not allowed, but proceedings blared from loudspeakers hung from trees and electric poles in a four-mile radius.

Bangladesh President Iajuddin Ahmed, Prime Minister Khaleda Zia and opposition leader Sheikh Hasina joined the massive congregation.