AHMEDABAD, 3 November 2003 — Curfew was imposed on a western Indian city yesterday after three people were killed and 10 injured in a clash between Hindus and Muslims over a cricket game. The unrest broke out in Viramgam, 62 km (38 miles) northwest of here, when a cricket ball hit a Hindu temple. When the Muslim boys who were playing the game tried to retrieve the ball, they were beaten up by Hindus.
Clashes later erupted in different parts of the town. An indefinite curfew was imposed on Viramgam after Hindu rioters burned nine shops belonging to Muslims.
Three people died from bullet wounds and 35 were injured, eight of them from firing and the rest from stones, provincial Home Secretary K. Nityanandam said.
Paramilitary police are patrolling the streets and additional police are being sent to the town, he said. Security is also being beefed up in Ahmedabad, which has been wracked by Hindu-Muslim violence in the past two years.
