Shi'a Muslims have been taking part in the religious ceremony of Ashura which commemorates the death of the Imam Hussein at the battle of Kerbala in 680 AD.

The event marked the divide in Islam between Shi'as and the majority Sunnis.

Ashura is the peak of ten days of mourning during the Islamic month of Moharram.

In some Shi'a strongholds, men flagellate themselves in rituals in which they share the suffering of the Imam.

This Lebanese boy's head is about to be cut to allow blood to flow.

Barbers sometimes make the cut in children. The knife this mother is holding was not used, but is symbolic.

Supporters of the Shi'a militant group Hezbollah gather in Beirut.

The leaders of Hezbollah display their emotions during recitations about the Martyrdom of Hussein Young Lebanese from the pro-Syrian Amal movement beat their heads.

Young Lebanese from the pro-Syrian Amal movement beat their heads.

These boys wait to wash as the ceremony draws to a close.

In Kabul, Afghanistan, blue-clad women watch the flagellation from a gallery of the minority community's main mosque