Today 11: how many more must die?
Eight-year-old girl stabbed, in hospital

Violence continued unabated in Ahmedabad. Eleven people, including a college teacher, were killed on Tuesday and at least 32 people injured, mainly in stabbing incidents. Tension has gripped the city and, despite the curfew, mobs of fanatics are out on Ahmedabad's streets burning and assaulting innocent people and destroying property.

A mob of fanatics in Sarkhej targeted an eight-year-old girl travelling on a rickshaw. The girl, only eight, was stabbed and has been admitted to V.S. Hospital. In another incident, Babubhai Solanki was attacked by four persons while he was passing through the Amraiwadi area on a bicycle. Incredibly, Babubhai was bitten by the four young men and has been admitted to hospital. Doctors said this was the first case of "such severe bite injuries."

An ITI teacher was burnt alive and a fruit vendor was stoned to death in Ahmedabad. Five others were stabbed to death. A mob of about 500 people attacked an ambulance at the V.S. Hospital and assaulted a 20-year-old boy who had come to hospital in an ambulance with a relative injured in police firing at Juhapura. As soon as the boy got out of the ambulance, he was assaulted in the hospital premises just outside the emergency ward.

Indiscriminate firing by private parties was reported from Durga Mani Pole, Dhanasuthar ni Pole, Katakiawaad, Mahajan Vando and Manusuri ni Pole areas at the time of filing this report. There were at least eight bomb explosions in the city on Tuesday in which scores of people, including two policemen, were injured. Tuesday's trouble in Ahmedabad started at around 11 am after a small scuffle involving marbles thrown by children of one community at children belonging to another community. As the day proceeded, there were at least 11 deaths and 32 serious injuries. At least 20 people were injured by sharp weapons in different parts of Ahmedabad. Bhavan Chavda, a municipal corporation employee who was on duty, was also stabbed by attackers who wanted to know his religion. Indefinite curfew was clamped in communally sensitive Kalupur on Tuesday afternoon after two people were killed and several others injured in heavy rioting. A 17-year-old was stabbed near Kadiya Kui at about 2 pm and a fruit vendor was stoned to death by a rioting mob in Revdi Bazaar.

According to Deputy Commissioner of police (Zone Ill) R.D. Makadia, tension gripped the area when a stove blew up in Revdi Bazaar at about 10.30 am. Panicked shopkeepers fled towards Kalupur and a mob started throwing stones and burning things. Some armed people in the mob opened fire. The area resounded with the thunder of crude bombs at regular intervals on Tuesday afternoon, the police said. Two persons of the minority community, injured while either making or throwing a crude bomb, were found by the Kalupur police when they were being escorted to hospital in a private car. One of them later succumbed to his injuries. The other person is reported to be in critical condition.

Two policemen were also injured when a crude bomb exploded near Dosi ni Pole in Kalupur. One person of the majority community received severe stab injuries. The body of one person stabbed to death was also found in Majoor Gain, near the state transport bus stand. Earlier on Tuesday, tension gripped the minority community-dominated Juhapura and Sarkhej areas in the western part of Ahmedabad after a person was burnt to death. According to the Vejalpur police, the victim was a professor with ITI in Sarkhej. Tension mounted in the Juhapura area after the incident and mobs set a truck and two garages on fire, police officers said. Two persons were killed in Velalpur area when the police was forced to fire several rounds of ammunition to disperse the rioting mob.

Republished from The Asian Age