Bahrain Mirror (AFP): Bahrain's opposition on Wednesday condemned what it called the police's use of "excessive" force during clashes with Shiite villagers commemorating the religious festival of Ashura.

Clashes erupted overnight Tuesday as security forces pulled down Ashura banners erected in what police said were "undesignated areas" of Shiite villages outside Manama, witnesses said.

They said security forces of the Sunni-ruled kingdom, which has a Shiite majority, fired buckshots to disperse protesting villagers, causing casualties.

Bahrain's top Shiite opposition formation, Al-Wefaq, condemned the "excessive use of force" to remove the banners and said the intervention amounted to "suppression of religious rituals".

Police chief Tareq al-Hassan said in a statement that some banners carried political statements with no connection to Ashura, one of the holiest commemorations of the Shia faith.

"Security forces took measures concerning some violations in certain villages," he said, adding that police were attacked with petrol bombs.

Some of the banners had been placed in areas that "posed a danger to traffic", he said.

Bahrain, a tiny but strategic US ally, has seen frequent unrest since a Shiite-led uprising erupted four years ago demanding a constitutional monarchy.