AHMADABAD, India (AP) - Violence broke out between Hindus and Muslims after India defeated its archrival neighbor country Pakistan in their World Cup match Saturday, leaving shops and vehicles burned and at least one person injured, police said.
The violence took place in the western state of Gujarat, where India's worst religious clashes in a decade left more than 1,000 people dead last year. Tension has simmered since, and divisions between Hindus and Muslims remain sharp.
Rioting was reported in at least six neighborhoods in Ahmadabad, the state's largest city and industrial hub. One man was rushed to hospital after being stabbed, police said. The man's identity was not known.
Shops and vehicles were burned in several other parts of the city, police said.
``The violence began between 10:30 p.m. and 10:45 p.m. Police lobbed tear gas shells to disperse the mob,'' Deputy Commissioner of Police Siddharth Khatri told The Associated Press. Khatri said riot police had been deployed.
In Vadodara city, police lobbed tear gas shells in three areas to disperse rioting mobs after three cars and a restaurant owned by a Muslim man were burned, a police officer there said by telephone. He asked not to be identified.
India is a secular nation where more than 80 percent of the population are Hindus. However, many Hindu nationalists often accuse Muslims, the largest religious minority, of secretly backing Pakistan, India's Islamic neighbor and its rival in three wars.
India was divided in 1947 by British colonialists, who carved out Pakistan as a new nation. However, millions of Muslims stayed back in India.
