AHMADABAD, India - Groups of Hindus attacked Muslims on Monday as religious violence that has killed more than 700 people in western India emerged in previously unaffected villages. Two more people were killed and more than 20 police injured.
Roaming groups returned Monday to the village of Panvad, which about 2,000 Hindu tribesmen from 13 villages surrounded Sunday, and set fire to 30 shops and houses, said Deputy Police Superintendent B.L. Parmar.
Police said they fired 119 rounds and 140 tear gas shells Monday to disperse the rioters but were overrun in many places. At least 21 policemen were injured, said B.S. Vasava, deputy superintendent of police.
The rioting in Gujarat state began Feb. 27 when Muslims burned a train full of Hindu activists who had been visiting the city of Ayodhya. Hindu hard-liners want to build a temple in Ayodhya on the site of a 16th century mosque that they tore down in 1992.