Provincial Gujarat gripped by sectarian violence

Hindu mobs attacked Muslim homes and shops yesterday in a remote town in Gujarat, where two weeks of sectarian violence have claimed more than 700 lives.

Police said that gangs of Hindus, mostly young men armed with iron rods and lead pipes, attacked Muslim neighbourhoods in Kanwant, 125 miles south of Ahmedabad, Gujarat's commercial capital. They set ablaze and vandalised houses and shops, and smashed glass panes.

Police officers used tear gas and fired shots in the air to disperse the troublemakers but were badly outnumbered and could not prevent crowds regrouping, the town's deputy superintendent said.

The incidents followed on from Monday's attacks on Muslim houses and shops in and Rajpipla, two other towns in south Gujarat, as violence continued to spread across the western Indian state.