The repatriation of Iranians killed in the hajj stampede in Saudi Arabia has been delayed until at least Wednesday, officials said, citing administrative problems and difficulties in identifying victims.

With the uproar over the tragedy showing no sign of easing, President Hassan Rouhani arrived back in Tehran on Tuesday having left the U.N. General Assembly early, after citing Saudi "incompetence" at the hajj.

Saudi police killed two suspected militants and arrested three others during raids to foil an "imminent terrorist operation," the interior ministry said Monday.

"This cell planned to carry out an imminent terrorist operation that had reached late stages of execution," the ministry said, without disclosing a target.

Russia and the United States are expected to take part in Syria peace talks in October, along with Iran, Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Egypt, Russia's deputy foreign minister said Monday.

A meeting of an international contact group of the "most influential outside players" will "be pushed forward to October after the U.N. General Assembly," deputy foreign minister Mikhail Bogdanov said, quoted by RIA Novosti news agency.

The number of Indonesians killed in a stampede at the hajj rose to 41 Monday with scores more still missing, an official said, warning Jakarta faces a "race against time" to identify its citizens who died.

The stampede on Thursday during a ritual stoning of the devil near the holy Saudi city of Mecca killed 769 people, the worst disaster to strike the annual Muslim pilgrimage in a quarter of a century. 

Air strikes by the Saudi-led coalition killed 23 Huthi rebels and five civilians at a village in northwestern Yemen on Sunday, residents said.

Coalition helicopters and planes targeted a building used by the rebels at the village of Zaylaa, in Hajja province which borders Saudi Arabia, they said.

Hundreds of Iranians chanted "Death to the treacherous House of Saud" outside the Saudi embassy on Sunday as the Islamic republic's leader demanded Riyadh apologize for the deadly hajj stampede.

Hamza Musa Kabir from Kano in northern Nigeria survived the massive stampede at the hajj by shedding his pilgrim's garment after he was pinned under a man in the crush, which killed 769 people.

Reflecting on the shocking events that unfolded on Thursday in Saudi Arabia, the 55-year-old tall, thin trader told his dramatic story to AFP's Kano correspondent Aminu Abubakar, who also performed the pilgrimage:

Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei demanded Saudi Arabia apologize Sunday for the stampede that killed nearly 770 pilgrims at the hajj, as a war of words escalated between the regional rivals.

Khamenei accused Riyadh of "playing a blame game", after the Saudi foreign minister said Iran was playing politics with tragedy.

A Saudi general has been killed in the south of the country near the border with Yemen, where he had been "defending the country", the army announced Sunday.

Brigadier General Ibrahim Hamzi, deputy commander of the 8th brigade in Jazan, died from his injuries after being taken to hospital, Saudi Arabia's official news agency said, without giving the date or exact circumstances of the incident.

Russian President Vladimir Putin spoke to Saudi Arabia's King Salman about finding a solution to the Syria crisis on Saturday, just two days before he is due to address the U.N. on the issue, the Kremlin said.

In a telephone conversation at Russia's behest, the two men "exchanged views on regional security matters, first and foremost, in the context of finding ways to settle the conflict in Syria", a statement posted to the Kremlin's website said.