29 Die as Hindu, Muslim Gangs Clash, Burn Shanties in India

At least 29 people were killed Friday in a renewed upsurge of communal bloodshed in the western Indian cities of Bombay and Ahmedabad, police said.

At least 17 people died in Bombay when rival Hindu and Muslim gangs set fire to hundreds of shanty huts. Eight people were burned alive after mobs set their houses ablaze.

Violence also flared in other parts of Bombay, India’s biggest city and main commercial center, taking the death toll in three days of communal bloodletting to 30, police said.

In Ahmedabad, in Gujarat state, at least 12 people were killed in clashes Friday. The death toll there over the last two days rose to 17.

Communal tension has been simmering in the two cities since last month’s countrywide riots following the destruction of a mosque by Hindu militants in northern India. The violence claimed more than 1,100 lives, 202 of them in Bombay.

Home Minister Babanrao Pachpute said extra troops had been called in to assist the police.

Hundreds of houses and shops in some parts of the city were set on fire by frenzied mobs who tried to block the firemen’s access, fire officials said.

“The police and army are just standing by and watching while mobs are surrounding our fire engines,” a fire officer said.

Gangs threw acid bombs from their large stockpiles in the Dongri area of central Bombay, the officer said.

Of the 202 people who died in last month’s rioting in Bombay, 172 were shot dead by police. The government has ordered an inquiry into the large number of deaths.

This time police apparently restrained themselves.

Police said tension continued in some parts of the city of 12 million inhabitants and they had to open fire in 10 places. A curfew was imposed on nine areas.

Flames from huge fires burning in the shanties lit up the night sky in Bombay. A full moon looked pale over the city as rioting continued unabated in a few isolated parts.