At least six people
died in Pakistan today, most of them from self-inflicted wounds as millions of Shi'ite Muslims marched in a traditional day of mourning.
Police and soldiers clamped down across Pakistan to avert Muslim sectarian violence during the Ashura day of mourning, which marks the martyrdom of the Prophet Mohammad's grandson, Imam Hussain, more than 1,300 years ago.
But police said five men died across Punjab province, after lashing their own backs with wooden-handled flails attached to around seven steel blades, a traditional practice meant to show solidarity with Hussain's suffering.
One woman died after being accidentally shot by a private security guard escorting a procession in Bahawalpur in southern Punjab, police said. Another six women were injured near the city of Multan after police fired tear gas at mourners, provoking a stampede, officials and witnesses said.
"Unfortunately these people flagellate in a frenzy, causing deep cuts with steel blades, because of which they bleed excessively and are vulnerable to death," said one doctor.
The period leading up to Ashura is often one of tension and violence between Shi'ites and the majority Sunni community in a country where hundreds of people have died in sectarian violence over the last decade.