RAWALPINDI, Pakistan (AFP) - Sectarian clashes in Pakistan's garrison city Rawalpindi left seven people dead and over 30 injured on Friday as worshippers massed to mourn the seventh century martyrdom of Hussain, the grandson of Prophet Mohammad, officials said.

The clashes erupted in Rawalpindi, the neighbouring city of the capital Islamabad, when a procession by Shi'ite Muslims in the main downtown area coincided with a sermon in a nearby Sunni mosque.

"The death toll from the clashes have reached seven people and 34 others are injured," Mr Muhammad Shoaib, an official at Rawalpindi's district hospital, told AFP.