An annual Jewish pilgrimage to Africa's oldest synagogue got under way Wednesday in Tunisia where security forces were deployed heavily to ward off potential jihadist attacks. Small groups of pilgrims including families with children began arriving in the searing heat at the Ghriba synagogue on the island of Djerba in southern Tunisia for the Lag BaOmer festival. The number of pilgrims visiting the synagogue has fallen sharply since a suicide bombing claimed by Al-Qaeda struck Ghriba just before the 2002 pilgrimage, killing 21 people.
