Gunmen killed 29 people in an attack on an Indian Hindu temple this afternoon that could reignite communal unrest and raise tensions with Pakistan.
|
|
An Indian woman pilgrim is pushed on a stretcher in a hospital in the city of Gandhinagar, state capital of the western state of Gujarat.
|
Police said more than 70 people were also injured in the attack and a further 100 people were feared trapped inside with the unidentified gunmen who stormed the Akshardham Temple in Gandhinagar, the capital of Western Gujarat state.
Indian Deputy Prime Minister Lal Krishna Advani, blamed "the enemies of the country" for the attack and said four children and six women were among the dead.
Gujarat is still recovering from the country's worst Hindu-Muslim bloodshed in a decade in February and March, which started after a Muslim mob burned 59 Hindus to death, triggering reprisals in which at least 1,000, mostly Muslims, died.
Police said the raid had stoked fears of fresh communal violence, particularly in Gujarat commercial capital Ahmedabad.
"There is tension and fear in Ahmedabad. People are scared that something could happen at night," the duty state intelligence police inspector said.