AHMEDABAD (Reuters) - Police opened fire to to break up clashes between Hindus and Muslims in bloodied Gujarat killing one man as fresh violence erupted, police officials said on Tuesday.
The killing overnight in the western part of Ahmedabad was the latest in a wave of religion-related deaths across the western state that has left more than 800 people, mostly Muslimes, dead.
"Hindus and Muslims were throwing petrol bombs and stones at each other, forcing police to open fire," a police official told Reuters. No violence was reported elsewhere in the state but two people were wounded on Monday while three died on Sunday.
The violence started in late February but has ebbed since peaking in March.
"Most of these clashes have been started by rumours that either a Hindu gang is coming to attack a Muslim community or vice-versa," the police official told Reuters.
Another senior police official said violence would continue to simmer, with the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) state government expected to dissolve the legislature on Wednesday to pave the way for a possible June election.
"One can be sure of one or two incidents a day like this until the election is over," said the official who wished to remain unnamed.
"Some want to keep the violence alive to show the government can't contain it," he said.
"It's also in Hindu hardliners' interests who think violence is the only way to keep alive revived Hindu nationalist feelings."
The BJP enraged the opposition and some of its own allies when it rejected calls at a weekend meeting to fire Gujarat's Chief Minister Narendra Modi who has been accused of turning a blind eye to the violence -- charges he has rejected.
Instead, it urged an early vote in Gujarat where human rights groups and the opposition say the death toll could be as high as 2,000.
The BJP has said it is confident of sweeping back to power on a wave of pro-Hindu sentiment in Gujarat which is deeply polarised along religious lines.
But even if the government, whose terms ends next February dissolves the assembly, with more than 100,000 people, mostly Muslims, in camps and Gujarat still smouldering, the election commission might reject an early vote, analysts said.
Around 750 people have died in reprisal killings, clashes and police firing since February 27 when a Muslim mob torched a train carrying Hindus, burning to death 59 people.