Police have imposed an indefinite curfew in the southern city.

The weekend clashes came on the 11th anniversary of the destruction by Hindu activists of a key mosque in Ayodhya, in the north.

About 20 people were injured in the Hyderabad clashes, two critically, but no new violence has been reported.

BBC correspondent in Hyderabad, Omer Farooq, says that the strike is being fully observed.

Three of the dead were killed by police gunfire and the other two in stabbing incidents.

Judicial inquiry

RP Singh, Hyderabad's commissioner of police, told the AFP news agency: "So far everything is under control. However, the situation is volatile and we are not taking any chances."

The curfew was initially imposed on Saturday, the day of the anniversary.

Violence erupted when Muslims accused Hindus of burning a black flag raised in respect of the destruction of the Babri mosque in Ayodhya, in Uttar Pradesh state.

Mr Singh said: "We had to open fire to control the situation as the mobs were armed with petrol bombs, swords and iron rods."

Schools and markets closed on Monday in response to the strike call by the BJP and its right-wing Hindu ally, the Vishwa Hindu Parishad.

A judicial inquiry into the violence has been launched by the administration in Hyderabad, the capital of Andhra Pradesh state.

Protests in Ayodhya itself were on a smaller and more peaceful scale, with large numbers of police deployed to control the situation.

The razing of the Babri mosque in 1992 triggered a year of violence that killed 2,000 people across India.

Thousands have been killed in Hindu-Muslim riots across the country since then.

Hindu activists claim the mosque was built on the site of an earlier temple to Lord Ram, but Muslims dispute this.

Legal arguments are continuing in an attempt to determine ownership.