INDIA: An indefinite curfew was imposed yesterday in a western Indian town as crowds of rioting Muslims set fire to shops and vehicles after two men on a motorcycle hurled bombs into a mosque injuring 21 people, two of them seriously, reports Rahul Bedi in New Delhi.
Police said the two explosions at Parbhani, 500 km east of Mumbai, took place during prayers on the last Friday before the Muslim feast of Eid-al- Fitr which marks the end of Ramadan, the holy Islamic month of fasting.
The attack triggered tension in the city as Muslim youths hurled stones and burnt shops and vehicles, several of them belonging to the majority Hindu community. Clashes between Hindus and Muslims have gained in intensity and frequency after the Hindu nationalist-led federal coalition assumed office over five years ago.
The bomb attack in Parbhani's Muslim quarter came nearly three months after Mumbai was rocked by twin car bombings which killed 52 people and wounded more than 150.
Police blamed an outlawed radical Indian Muslim students' group with close links to Pakistan-backed rebels which Delhi holds responsible for fuelling the insurgency in the disputed Kashmir state, which is divided between the two nuclear neighbours but claimed by both.