AHMEDABAD/NEW DELHI, 12 May — Clashing mobs threw stones at each other and indulged in arson across Gujarat’s principal city, but no death was reported till yesterday evening.

Police said they used teargas overnight to control rampaging mobs in Ahmedabad. They fired 16 teargas shells after crowds of people in the Khadia area of the city, hurled light bulbs filled with acid and stones at each other Friday night. There were no reports of serious injuries. Curfews are in force in several areas of the city.

The city has been in the grip of a fresh wave of violence since Friday when eight people were killed in renewed sectarian fury.

Police said clashes were reported in the predominantly Muslim neighborhoods of Karanj and Shahpur in eastern Ahmedabad. On Friday, a fruit vendor who got caught in the clashes in the Kalupur neighborhood with a mixed population of Hindus and Muslims was doused with petrol and set ablaze. Another fruit vendor was caught near the Kalupur tower, from which he was hung after being stabbed to death.

As explosions resounded in the Jamalpur area, at least three people were killed in blasts, stone throwing and stabbing and 43 were injured. Two of the deaths took place in the predominantly Muslim neighborhood of Raikhad and one in Jamalpur. Three of the injured succumbed in hospital.

Amid heavy stone pelting, bomb blasts and sporadic incidents of arson, police resorted to teargas shelling and combing operations. The marauding mobs did not even spare the police. Constable Mahendra Singh was severely beaten up and his motorcycle burned and rifle snatched.

Mobs, which had the upper hand Friday as firemen were on strike, went on the rampage setting shops on fire in Muslim-dominated areas of Gaekwad Haveli and Delhi Chakla.

Personnel of the Ahmedabad Fire Brigade struck work Thursday after five firemen were dragged out of their vehicles and thrashed in the predominantly Hindu neighborhood of Raipur Chakla in eastern Ahmedabad.

The striking firemen returned to work Friday afternoon following an assurance from the state government and Municipal Commissioner P. Pannervel that they would be provided security. Gujarat has been on the boil since Feb. 27 when 58 train passengers, mostly volunteers of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP), were torched in Godhra town. Over 950 people have died in the sectarian bloodletting.

Chief Minister Narendra Modi, who heads a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government, has been accused of turning a blind eye to the plight of Muslim victims and protecting right-wing Hindu leaders who allegedly led mobs targeting the minority group. State police have also been accused of ignoring attacks and even conniving with the attackers through the carnage.

A worried central government, which has refused to sack Modi, this month flew in K.P.S. Gill, the retired chief of Punjab police who is credited with crushing Sikh extremism in the northern state, to serve as security advisor to the Gujarat administration. Gill held a marathon meeting in the city with minority leaders from across the state. In New Delhi, Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee held a meeting of his coalition government — the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) — during which the situation in Gujarat was discussed.

“During the meeting, some coalition members called for more concrete steps to be taken to establish normalcy in Gujarat,” said Defense Minister and NDA convener George Fernandes.

“They also suggested that teams of NDA MPs should visit the affected localities and talk to the people to bring about peace.” External Affairs Minister Jaswant Singh called the ongoing riots in Gujarat “unacceptable” but said the sectarian violence had not damaged the country’s secular image. “The violence in Gujarat is unfortunate and unacceptable,” Jaswant said.