15 January 2003

Police fired tear gas to disperse rioting mobs who set fire to nearly 70 shops in an Indian town yesterday.

The riots started after Muslim butchers slaughtered eight cows, which are sacred to Hindus.

Armed police separated the rival groups and imposed a ban on the assembly of more than five people in Ganj Basoda, 50 miles from Bhopal, the capital of Madhya Pradesh state.

Muslim butchers slaughtered the cows, defying a state ban, say police.

Nearly 1,000 Hindus arrived in the area as word spread of the cow slaughter.

Police recovered eight skins and one severed cow head from the home of a butcher who was arrested along with his family.

Most of the shops burned belonged to Muslims, but Muslims also set some Hindu shops ablaze in retaliation.

Madhya Pradesh is one of a few of India's 29 states that have banned the slaughter of cows, prompting traders to carry cattle across state lines to abattoirs.