Ahmedabad, March 31 :
Ahmedabad, March 31:
Glimpses of the Godhra riots revisited Gomtipur a day after the deceptive calm on Holi as mobsters clashed and torched houses at midnight before laying siege to the fire headquarters.
As many as seven people were killed yesterday in the state that has been burning in bursts since the February 27 train carnage. Ahmedabad, Anand and Kheda districts are again under curfew.
There was a fresh flare-up in the Vejalpur area of Ahmedabad late tonight, where the army was called out after clashes between two communities. One person was wounded in police firing. Violence spread to the minority-dominated Johapur area.
Police said things began to hot up around 10.30 pm on Saturday when two groups living behind the Gomtipur fire brigade hub - a communally-sensitive area - came to blows and began to lob crude bombs and pelt stones. Some bombs landed in the fire brigade staff quarters, setting off a wave of panic.
The mobsters, who reportedly grew murderous by the minute, went on to open fire at each other before fanning out in their fury into the neighbourhood and setting fire to nearly 50 houses and several shops.
They then headed for the fire headquarters and laid siege to it to block fire personnel from moving out.
Fire station officer Pravinsinh Parmar said the mob - about 5,000 of them armed with swords, sticks, stones and crude bombs - scaled the wall and stormed the compound after most of the fire tenders had already set out.
'As soon as we got the wireless message that a mob had laid siege to the fire station, we immediately sent half the fire tenders back. The mob dispersed only after the tenders returned,' Parmar said.
The police lobbed teargas shells to disperse the mob that had gheraoed the fire station but were later forced to open fire. Two persons died in the firing. A third was stabbed elsewhere in Gomtipur.
As violence spread to Rakhiyal, Amraivadi, Bapunagar and Rajpur, the army and paramilitary forces were called in and the areas cordoned off. Additional police commissioner M.K. Tandon, who reached the spot, ordered imposition of curfew in Rakhiyal and Bapunagar. About 97 people have been rounded
up.
In recurring violence across the state, some more people died.
Three were killed in police firing in the Akbarpur-Sakarpur areas of Kheda district when
a mob attacked a police point, provoking the personnel to
open fire. Two died last night while a third was killed in a
fresh outburst this morning. About 80 people have been arrested in Anand and Kheda
districts.
In Adas village in Anand district, 60 houses were torched. One person was killed in stone pelting in Petlad town. Borsad, Umetha and Adas villages are under curfew.
In Kadi town of Mehsana district, where a 70-year-old was killed yesterday, the situation remained tense. It is under indefinite curfew.
No incident of violence was reported from Kalupur, Dariyapur, Shahpur, Karanj, Havely and Vejalpur police station areas of Ahmedabad where curfew was relaxed today.