Shocking images show young Muslim boys beating themselves with sharp blades as part of the holy Day of Ashura.

Every year, Muslims all over the world take part in these bloody self-flagellation ceremonies to mark the tenth day of the Islamic calendar and to mourn the death of the Prophet Muhammad’s grandson, Imam Husayn, at the Battle of Karbala. Sunni Muslims celebrate it the date – which they refer to as the Day of Atonement – as the day Israelites were freed from the Pharaoh of Egypt. Some Muslims commemorate the day by carrying out brutal acts of self-flagellation, others slap their chests and chant, and some take part in ‘street plays’.