India: Several killed in Hindu-Muslim clashes near Delhi

Indian authorities on Tuesday imposed a curfew and deployed hundreds of paramilitary forces to different parts of the northern Haryana state in response to violent clashes between Hindu and Muslims that have left at least four people dead.

A mosque was set on fire early Tuesday and a Muslim cleric was killed in Gurugram city outside the capital, Delhi. 

Several people involved in the violence have been arrested, police said.

"The attackers [who torched the mosque] have been identified and several of them have been rounded up," Gurugram Police said in a statement on Tuesday. 

The violence first flared up Monday afternoon when a religious procession organized by Hindu nationalist groups passed through the Muslim-majority Nuh district in the northern Haryana state. Police said two officers were killed in the clashes. 

"The procession was meant to move from one temple to another but clashes broke out between two groups on the way, which resulted in the death of four people," Krishan Kumar, spokesperson of Nuh police, told Reuters news agency. 

Internet access restricted, curfew imposed 

The unrest spread Tuesday to neighboring Gurugram, which is about 30 kilometers (19 miles) from New Delhi. Along with imposing a curfew and deploying troops, authorities said they ordered schools and colleges to remain shut as a precautionary measure.

Mobile internet service was also cut in parts of Haryana.

More than 20 police officers have been injured in the violence and dozens of cars were set on fire, a police statement said.

Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar wrote that "The guilty will not be spared at any cost. Strictest action will be taken against them."

The state's home minister, Anil Vij, alleged the violence was "engineered" and said police would investigate the clashes.

Communal violence in India is not new, but observers say that religious polarization has risen in recent years under Prime Minister Narenda Modi and his Hindu-nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) party. 

In 2020, India saw one of the worst Hindu-Muslim violence in years as months of protests against a controversial citizenship law came to a head.

rm/wmr (Reuters, AP)