AHMEDABAD (Reuters) - Muslims called off an annual procession in Baroda to ward off potential clashes with Hindus during the Islamic mourning day of Muharram on Tuesday, a senior police official said.

The procession in the tense industrial town, some 125 km south of Ahmedabad, Gujarat’s main city, was cancelled after three people were killed last week in clashes over the route of a Muharram procession, he said.

"Muslim leaders have voluntarily called off the procession to maintain peace and harmony in the city," Sudhir Sinha, Baroda's police commissioner told Reuters.

One Muslim was stabbed late on Monday in Baroda as riot police and paramilitary forces were put on high alert to prevent any flare-up of violence.

Gujarat witnessed India's worst religious riots in a decade, two years ago, when more than 1,000 people, mostly Muslims, were killed in a series of revenge attacks after a suspected Muslim mob torched a train, burning alive 59 Hindus.

Non-government groups put the death toll from the religious violence at over 2,500.

Authorities have detained more than 400 people and deployed additional forces including riot police in towns such as Ahmedabad, Surat and Rajkot which have sizeable Muslim populations and a history of religious violence.

Muslim Shi'ites annually mark Muharram, a period of mourning to mark the martyrdom of the Prophet Mohammad's grandson Hussein more than 1,300 years ago.

Mourning reaches a climax on Ashura -- the 10th day of Muharram -- when some devotees flog themselves with steel-tipped flails or slash their bodies with knives in solidarity with Hussein. In India, Ashura falls on Tuesday.

Muharram processions in Gujarat have sometimes turned violent in the past when they passed through Hindu-dominated areas.