La Paz  - A peasant died and two others were seriously injured in a traditional, violent ritual known as "Tinku" during an annual festival in western Bolivia, police said Tuesday.

A 35-year-old man died Sunday on the main square in San Pedro de Macha, in the Bolivian region of Potosi in the bloody combat ritual between peasants in one from the poorest regions in Bolivia.

The "Tinku," or meeting in the Quechua language, is a violent and brutal ancestral combat tradition in which men fight sometimes to their death. Blood that is shed during the festival is offered to Pachamama, or Mother Earth.

According to media reports, 50 police officers were unable to control the angry peasants, most of whom were drunk, who took part in the "Tinku."

"The peasants have their hands wrapped in barbed wire over woolen gloves. Almost drunk, they look for a rival, who is always a member of a different community," a report in the daily El Potosi said. "They hit each other until one dies. The event is watched by many foreigners who take photographs until they get tired." (dpa)