2 Die as Hindus, Muslims Clash in Old Delhi

Mobs of Hindus and Muslims fought each other in the capital Wednesday, and at least two people were killed in the new outburst of ethnic violence. Dozens of shops were burned.

Police said 12 people were wounded in the rioting, which occurred in Old Delhi, a crowded business district dominated by Muslims.

Thousands of steel-helmeted policemen fanned out across Old Delhi’s narrow streets and imposed a curfew. Fifteen fire trucks put out dozens of blazes.

Meanwhile, Russian President Boris N. Yeltsin arrived Wednesday for a three-day visit to India, hoping to solve a nagging debt issue and revive sagging trade and military sales.

Yeltsin told reporters he also wants to revive Moscow’s Soviet-era friendship with New Delhi as part of a broader effort to quiet Russian hard-liners, who accuse him of leaning too far to the West.

More than 1,800 people have been killed in India since riots broke out after Hindu zealots tore down a 16th-Century mosque in the northern town of Ayodhya on Dec. 6.

Most of the fatal clashes were in December, but Bombay exploded in a new round of riots Jan. 6, leaving more than 800 people dead. That city, India’s largest, began to return to normal Jan. 18.

At least two people were killed Tuesday night in Bombay when a Muslim mob attacked Hindu worshipers. The violence occurred just hours before Prime Minister John Major of Britain arrived in the city.

Police stations throughout New Delhi were put on high alert Wednesday night as numerous rumors of renewed rioting swept the city of 9 million people, Police Chief M. B. Kaushal told a news conference.

The situation in Old Delhi was tense but under control, he said. Police drove through the area and appealed on loudspeakers for peace. Specially trained anti-riot police were deployed in the neighborhood for the first time, United News of India reported.

“I had heard religious hatred could make animals out of human beings. I saw it happening today,” said Ahmad Dehlvi, a Muslim resident of Old Delhi who tried to stop some of the Muslim rioters.

Old Delhi is one of the few areas in the capital where Muslims form a majority.

The violence Wednesday began after a Muslim cleric reopened his one-room mosque on a Hindu-dominated street and discovered it had been raided and damaged, its Koran torn and its chandeliers broken.

Groups of Muslims began attacking Hindu shops in revenge and broke open the metal gates of a small Hindu temple, setting fire to a statue of a god.

Mobs of Hindus and Muslims then began throwing stones at each other. One man was stabbed to death and another was fatally shot by police, Press Trust of India said.