At least 11 people were killed in Nigeria as members of the Shia community commemorated Muharram on Wednesday amid rising tensions and bans on gatherings in some parts of the country, BBC reported.
In Katsina state, where Ashura gatherings were banned, at least nine people were killed when police opened fire on a procession in the town of Funtua, witnesses said.
At least two people were killed when unruly crowds attacked Shia gatherings and the house of the Islamic Movement of Nigeria (IMN) leader, setting it alight. The IMN was outlawed last week, with the Kaduna government terming the group a threat to the state.
Members of the Shia community are a minority in Nigeria.
In the northern city of Kano, police said mourners who were returning home after a procession were attacked by young men, and officers had to rescue 100 of them from the attackers.
In the main city of Plateau state, eyewitnesses said that a Shia centre was set on fire.
He said police then opened fire on the crowd, and while he had seen only eight bodies, many more were feared wounded.
The UK-based UK-based Islamic Human Rights Commission said it had received responds suggesting soldiers had used live ammunition and tear gas as clashes broke out.Katsina, like some other northern Nigerian states, had tried to ban public Ashura commemorations.
The IHRC said it had also received reports of police setting fire to the Kaduna Markaz mosque in Kaduna city, the main mosque used by the proscribed Islamic Movement of Nigeria (IMN).
"Today's violence confirmed fears that the Nigerian authorities would seek to sabotage the annual commemoration of Ashura in the country," it said in a statement.
What is Ashura?
The day falls each year on the 10th of Muharram, the first month of the Islamic lunar calendar. This year, it corresponds with Tuesday 11 October, though the festival begins for observant Muslims at sunset on Monday, in some countries the day before is also a public holiday, and events can span a period of more than a week.
Ashura is marked by all Muslims, and commemorations can include a voluntary fast.
But the day is a major part of the religious calendar for Shia Muslims, for whom it is a solemn occasion to mourn the death of Hussein in 680 AD at Karbala in modern-day Iraq.The day has become best-known around the world for public displays of self-flagellation, but observing Muslims also conduct reenactments of the martyrdom of Hussein and take part in parades and displays of fire-spinning.
Inevitably, the self-flagellation has been a cause for some controversy. Some religious leaders say the graphic scenes that result tend to paint Shia Muslims in a backward or negative light.
And there has been an effort in recent years to channel the annual blood-letting into a more constructive and progressive practice. Some leaders have suggested marking the day by donating blood.
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