Screaming baby cries as a relative slices its head open with a kitchen knife as part of Islamic self-flagellation ceremony to mourn the death of the Prophet's grandson

 

Gruesome pictures show a man holding a knife to the head of a baby in Ahmadabad, India while others show men whipping themselves with sharp blades. In separate images, men can be seen crying out in pain as they use knives attached to chains to cut their own backs at a mosque in Kabul, Afghanistan. Pools of blood can be seen on the floor of the building after the men performed the ritual to mark Ashura - one of the major fixtures of the Islamic calendar.